272 Quotes by Quentin Crisp

Politics are not an instrument for effecting social change; they are the art of making the inevitable appear to be a matter of wise human choice.

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can’t think what to do with the long winter evenings.

It was my policy never to spend more than half my wages so as not to have to work for more than half my days on earth.

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them. If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.

I don’t think you can really be proud of being gay because it isn’t something you’ve done. You can only be proud of not being ashamed.

The monasteries of Bohemia demand more of their brotherhood than some are prepared to give. The daily routine of back-breaking idleness proves too much for certain novices. The self-inflicted orgies that are the inevitable punishment for the slightest deviation into the bourgeois way of life are more than their frail flesh can stand. Many discover to their shame that they have scruples; they have roots, and greatest disadvantage of all, they have hope.

Among other objections to the image of me was that I hated animals. I still do. I have enough dumb friends without them.

I take it to be axiomatic that people are revolted by witnessing the shameless gratification of an appetite they do not share.

There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.