They had a... dog called Bluey. A know psychopath, Bluey would attack himself if nothing else was available. — Clive James Copy Share Image
There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into. — Clive James Copy Share Image
When I finally embraced abstinence it was because of the simple urge to work a longer day. Thus, without joining Alcoholics Anonymous,… — Clive James Copy Share Image
In Italy, for the same price as a typical British hamburger meal including sweet, a builder's labourer could eat like a king… — Clive James Copy Share Image
Dinner was meat - not hunks of meat, as in Australia, but pathetic scraps of meat, as in Britain - which the… — Clive James Copy Share Image
Like most people who smoked umpteen cigarettes a day, I tasted only the first one. The succeeding umpteen minus one were a… — Clive James Copy Share Image
In recent years, perhaps encouraged by competition from McDonald's, the British hamburger has become a credit to the nation. At the time… — Clive James Copy Share Image
Here was my first lesson on the resolutely maintained untidiness and ill-health of the English upper orders. In baggy evening dress and… — Clive James Copy Share Image
Spending all my remaining money on a ticket to Florence was rendered needlessly complicated by the fact that none of the ticket-sellers… — Clive James Copy Share Image
Perhaps I should have pointed out more often that without her (mother's) guidance and example I might have gone straight from short… — Clive James Copy Share Image
In London there was no home cooking worthy of the name. When you were in funds you ate out. But only the… — Clive James Copy Share Image
When you cut it up, put the pieces in your mouth and swallowed them, the British hamburger shaped itself to the bottom… — Clive James Copy Share Image
My wife spoke perfect Italian and she was very beautiful and very suave Italian men were crowding around her, talking all the time and… — Clive James Copy Share
The streets, at least in this part of town, seemed impossibly clean in comparison to London. The public telephones were unvandalised. For a London… — Clive James Copy Share
In London there was no home cooking worthy of the name. When you were in funds you ate out. But only the people whose… — Clive James Copy Share
Generally it is our failures that civilize us. Triumph confirms us in our habits. — Clive James Copy Share
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… — Clive James Copy Share
Pound had argued - and Eliot had helped him prove - that a poem could be sustained by memorable moments. Olson proved that it… — Clive James Copy Share
One way or another, all the poets of the thirties and forties reacted to Auden, either by rejecting him or trying to absorb him. — Clive James Copy Share
Little books are the things to write at my age, I've decided. Avoid the big ones, go for the little ones. — Clive James Copy Share
“Too many of my friends are dead, and others wrecked By various diseases of the intellect Or failing body. How am I still upright?… — clive james Copy Share
“Rilke used to say that no poet would mind going to gaol, since he would at least have time to explore the treasure house… — Clive James Copy Share
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 Copy Share
