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
I actually didn't like that feeling of being out of touch because what I do depends on being in touch. But it's… — 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
I won't have to miss smoking any more. Nobody smokes where I'm going: It's like a row of restaurants in California. — Clive James Copy Share Image
As a work of art, it reminds me of a long conversation between two drunks — Clive James Copy Share Image
I was a big pothead for a short period. That was what ticked me off that I shouldn't go near hard drugs,… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Generally it is our failures that civilize us. Triumph confirms us in our habits. — Clive James Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
The Canadian version of Julius Caesar's memoirs? I came, I saw, I coped. — Clive James Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
