Clive James Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• If the humanism that makes civilization civilized is to be preserved into the new century, it will need advocates. These advocates will need a memory, and part of that memory will need to be of an age in which they were not yet alive.

  Clive James

  Memories, Civilization, Age

  Clive James (2008). “Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts”, p.10, W. W. Norton & Company

  7 Copy quote

• The Benson and Hedges Cup was won by McEnroe ... he was as charming as always, which means that he was as charming as a dead mouse in a loaf of bread.

  Clive James

  Mean, Tennis, Bread

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• An education without a Bible education is no education.

  Clive James

  Classic

  Clive James (2011). “A Point of View”, p.336, Pan Macmillan

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• They had a... dog called Bluey. A know psychopath, Bluey would attack himself if nothing else was available.

  Clive James

  Funny, Dog, Psychopath

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• Experts say men think of sex every 10 seconds... What do they think of in the other nine?

  Clive James

  Sex, Men, Thinking

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• When I finally embraced abstinence it was because of the simple urge to work a longer day. Thus, without joining Alcoholics Anonymous, I was at last able to leave Piss-Artists Notorious.

  Clive James

  Funny, Humorous, Drinking

  Clive James (2012). “Always Unreliable: Memoirs”, p.303, Pan Macmillan

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• I try to be specific. One thought at a time. Clear. Articulate. And above all, memorable, if you can be. You'd like to write phrases that people can't forget as soon as they read them.

  Clive James

  Memorable, Writing, People

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Ellen Rolfes, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

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• The essence of a class system is not that the privileged are conscious of their privileges, but that the deprived are conscious of their deprivations.

  Clive James

  Essence, Class, Justice

  Clive James (2012). “Always Unreliable: Memoirs”, p.111, Pan Macmillan

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• Television is simultaneously blamed, often by the same people, for worsening the world and for being powerless to change it.

  Clive James

  Change, People, Television

  Clive James (1983). “Glued to the box: television criticism from the Observer, 1979-82”, Jonathan Cape

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• It's a big thing to call yourself a poet. All I can say is that I have always written poems. I don't think I'm interested in any discussion about whether I'm a good poet, a bad poet or a great poet. But I am sure, I want to write great poems. I think every poet should want that.

  Clive James

  Writing, Thinking, Want

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Art Beat, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

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• In the twelfth century the Basque fishermen of Biarritz used to hunt whales with deadly efficiency. When the whales sensibly moved away, the Basques chased them further and further, with the consequence that the fishermen of Biarritz discovered America before Columbus did. This is a matter for local pride but on a larger view it is not quite so stunning, since with the possible exception of the Swiss everybody discovered America before Columbus did.

  Clive James

  Pride, Views, Whales

  Clive James (1985). “Flying Visits”

  4 Copy quote

• A lot of my poems are about how ill I am and how I probably won't live beyond next week. I publish a poem and everyone says 'cluck cluck, how wonderful, how brave', but then embarrassingly I'm still here! You see the problem?

  Clive James

  Next Week, Brave, Problem

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• Almost 70 years have gone by, and I've still got that feeling when I write... Writing, for me, is still it. It has always been the basis of everything I do. I'm a writer who performs, not a performer who writes. I love the act of writing. It's still a thrill for me.

  Clive James

  Art, Writing, Years

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• If an artist is any good at all, then he or she will have a later phase that's more interesting than the early one.

  Clive James

  Artist, Interesting, Phases

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Ellen Rolfes, www.pbs.org. December 3, 2013.

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• Like most people who smoked umpteen cigarettes a day, I tasted only the first one. The succeeding umpteen minus one were a compulsive ritual which had no greater savour than the fumes of burning money.

  Clive James

  Funny, Humorous, People

  Clive James (2013). “The Complete Unreliable Memoirs”, p.292, Pan Macmillan

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• She wasn't just beautiful. She was like the sun coming up: coming up giggling. She was giggling as if she had just remembered something funny.

  Clive James

  Beautiful, Sun, Classic

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• I actually didn't like that feeling of being out of touch because what I do depends on being in touch. But it's fun to talk about. That's one of the real dangers of drugs: they're too much fun to talk about.

  Clive James

  Fun, Real, Drug

  "Summer Series: Clive James, in the face of death". "PM" with Mark Colvin, www.abc.net.au. December 21, 2015.

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• Jack Aubrey is a tremendous tower of strength and you always want to read about him.

  Clive James

  Towers, Want

  "Summer Series: Clive James, in the face of death". "PM" with Mark Colvin, www.abc.net.au. December 21, 2015.

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• Ban poetry. And make sure that anyone caught reading it is expelled from school. Then it will acquire the glamour.

  Clive James

  Reading, School, Glamour

  "Clive James on turning his ‘last time on earth’ into a writing wellspring". Interview with Ellen Rolfes, December 3, 2013.

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• You can never get a woman to sit down and listen to a drum solo.

  Clive James

  Women, Down And, Solo

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• In Italy, for the same price as a typical British hamburger meal including sweet, a builder's labourer could eat like a king - rather better in fact, because pasta dishes gain from being kept simple.

  Clive James

  Funny, Sweet, Kings

  Clive James (2012). “Always Unreliable: Memoirs”, p.308, Pan Macmillan

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• Like a Volvo, Bjorn Borg is rugged, has good after-sales service, and is very dull.

  Clive James

  Tennis, Dull, Borg

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• I've only got a fraction of the energy I once had, but I think I probably use it better.

  Clive James

  Thinking, Energy, Use

  "Clive James: life through the prism of illness". "PM" with Mark Colvin, www.abc.net.au. August 21, 2015.

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• All honest labor becomes easy; it only becomes hard when done with unwillingness.

  Clive James

  Effort, Done, Honest

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• The thing about making a documentary in Las Vegas is there isn't much to film apart from other people making documentaries about Las Vegas.

  Clive James

  Vegas, People, Documentaries

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