274 Quotes by Rebecca West

In England and America a beard usually means that its owner would rather be considered venerable than virile; on the continent of Europe it often means that its owner makes a special claim to virility.

The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you.

the law, like art, is always vainly racing to catch up with experience.

Everyone realizes that one can believe little of what people say about each other. But it is not so widely realized that even less can one trust what people say about themselves.

It is a great pity that every human being does not, at an early stage of his life, have to write a historical work. He would then realize that the human race is in quite a jam about truth.

Art is not a luxury, but a necessity.

It is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster.

Women know the damnation of charity because the habit of civilization has always been to throw them cheap alms rather than give them good wages.

If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed like a good idea at the time.'