Al Alvarez Quotes

20 quotes in 294 categories

• When neither high purpose nor the categorical imperatives of religion will do, the only argument against suicide is life itself. You pause and attend: the…
• Each sporadic burst of work, each minor success and disappointment, each moment of calm and relaxation, seemed merely a temporary halt on my steady descent…
• Now, if, as I think, writing should be, it's a kind of risky trade.
• I absolutely don't believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck.
• To put yourself into a situation where a mistake cannot necessarily be recouped, where the life you lose may be your own, clears the head…
• Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essentially…
• The better the artist, the more vulnerable he seems to be.
• The point is that it looks like gambling because the language of the game is money.
• Divorce transforms habit into drama.
• Hold'em is a game of calculated aggression. If your cards are good enough for you to call a bet, they are good enough to raise…
• I'm good at reading people.
• I mean being a writer is like being a psychoanalyst, but you don't get any patients.
• When you make a bet, you're saying something.
• I could think of worse ways of going than at the poker table.
• I hate writing.
• But in a tournament, you can be said in for all your money at any point so you can't make any mistakes so you have…
• I mean to say, this is the book and I really loathe it and I can't imagine what a nice Jewish boy like me ever,…
• I think one of the interesting things about poker is that once you let your ego in, you're done for.
• The fact that we write about it doesn't mean we play better than ordinary players at all.
• Yes, I think poker really isn't gambling.

Browse Al Alvarez Quotes by Category