60 Quotes by Radclyffe Hall

Give us also the right to our existence!

What a terrible thing could be freedom. Trees were free when they were uprooted by the wind; ships were free when they were torn from their moorings; men were free when they were cast out of their homes – free to starve, free to perish of cold and hunger.

The eyes of the young are drawn to the stars, and the spirit of youth is seldom earth-bound.

I want you to be wise for your own sake, Stephen, because at the best life requires great wisdom. I want you to learn to make friends of your books; someday you may need them, because – ’ He hesitated, ’because you mayn’t find life at all easy, we none of us do, and books are good friends.

Man could not live by darkness alone, one point of light he must have for salvation – one point of light. The most perfect Being of all had cried for light in His darkness – even He, the most perfect Being of all.

Life had already taught Stephen one thing, and that was that never must human beings be allowed to suspect that a creature fears them. The fear of the one is a spur to the many, for the primitive hunting instinct dies hard – it is better to face a hostile world than to turn one’s back for a moment.

Writing, it was like a heavenly balm, it was like the flowing out of deep waters, it was like the lifting of a load from the spirit; it brought with it a sense of relief, of assuagement. One could say things in writing without feeling self-conscious, without feeling shy and ashamed and foolish – one could even write of the days of young Nelson, smiling a very little as one did so.

To keep life in his desolate, long-suffering soul, he had stored his mind with much profound learning. So now many poor devils went to him for advice, which he never refused though he gave it sadly. It was always the same: ‘Do the best you can, no man can do more – but never stop fighting. For us there is no sin so great as despair, and perhaps no virtue so vital as courage.

The eyes themselves were the eyes of a writer, always a little tired in expression.