James Branch Cabell

American literature was enriched with Men Who Loved Allison .... Of the actual and eventual worth of this romance I cannot pretend…

— James Branch Cabell

Thou shalt not offend against the notions of thy neighbor.

— James Branch Cabell

Oh, do the Overlords of Life and Death always provide some obstacle to prevent what all of us have known in youth…

— James Branch Cabell

Creeds matter very little... The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this…

— James Branch Cabell

I am Manuel. I have lived in the loneliness which is common to all men, but the difference is that I have…

— James Branch Cabell

Whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart.

— James Branch Cabell

“That moving carcass does but very inadequately symbolizes you....a subtle and immortal spirit.”

— James Branch Cabell

People never want to be told anything they do not believe already.

— James Branch Cabell

Man alone of animals plays the ape to his dreams .

— James Branch Cabell

I was born, I think, with the desire to make beautiful books — brave books that would preserve the glories of the…

— James Branch Cabell

There are many of our so-called captains on industry who, if the truth were told, and a shorter and uglier word were…

— James Branch Cabell

And one would worship a woman whom all perfections dower, But the other smiles at transparent wiles; and he quotes from Schopenhauer…

— James Branch Cabell

“...[we] has left nothing durable to signalize his stay upon this planet. [we]eventually dies to the honest regret of [our] associates.”

— James Branch Cabell

Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is.

— James Branch Cabell

Here was the astounding fact: the race did go forward; the race did achieve; and in every way the race grew better.…

— James Branch Cabell

There is no gift more great than love.

— James Branch Cabell

While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they…

— James Branch Cabell

Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.

— James Branch Cabell

Good and evil keep very exact accounts... and the face of every man is their ledger.

— James Branch Cabell

I fear You and, yes, I love You: and yet I cannot believe. Why could You not let me believe, where so…

— James Branch Cabell

No person of quality ever remembers social restrictions save when considering how most piquantly to break them.

— James Branch Cabell

For all men have but a little while to live and none knows his fate thereafter. So that a man possesses nothing…

— James Branch Cabell

People must have both their dreams and their dinners in this world, and when we go out of it we must take…

— James Branch Cabell

People marry through a variety of other reasons, and with varying results: but to marry for love is to invite inevitable tragedy.

— James Branch Cabell

The only way of rendering life endurable is to drink as much wine as one can come by.

— James Branch Cabell