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Portrait of James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell

(1879–1958) Writer United States

78 quotes in 447 categories

James Branch Cabell reflects on the clash between optimism and pessimism, noting that many people are naturally kind at heart despite skeptical views. He warns against forcing ideas on others and mentions the obstacles that keep youthful dreams from becoming real. His words also touch on loneliness and the difficulty of being judged.

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James Branch Cabell was a writer from the United States, best known for Jurgen.

Quick Facts About James Branch Cabell

Born: April 14, 1879
Died: May 5, 1958
Nationality: United States
Profession: Writer
Notable works: Jurgen

About James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles-lettres. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when they were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was "the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare".

Quotes by James Branch Cabell

No lady is ever a gentleman.

James Branch Cabell

Gentleman

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Patriotism is the religion of hell.

James Branch Cabell

Hell

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There is no gift more great than love.

James Branch Cabell

Gift

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“alcohol played the midwife”

James Branch Cabell

Alcohol

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I am willing to taste any drink once.

James Branch Cabell

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Trapped dreams must die.

James Branch Cabell

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“Poetry is man’s rebellion against being what he is. (1879-1958)”

James Branch Cabell

Poetry

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In religious matters a traveller loses nothing by civility.

James Branch Cabell

Civility

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A manpossessesnothing certainlysavea brief loanof his own body.

James Branch Cabell

Body

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Thou shalt not offend against the notions of thy neighbor.

James Branch Cabell

Neighbor

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“Our sole concern with the long dead is aesthetic”

James Branch Cabell

Aesthetic

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At all events, I do not mean to leave it unaltered.

James Branch Cabell

Events

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Literature is a vast bazaar where customers come to purchase everything except mirrors.

James Branch Cabell

Bazaars

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In what else, pray, does man differ from the other animals except in that he is used by words?

James Branch Cabell

Animal

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The man was not merely very human; he was humanity. And I reflected that it is only by preserving faith in human…

James Branch Cabell

Dream

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

James Branch Cabell

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I do that which I do in every place. Here also, at the gateway of that garden into which time has not…

James Branch Cabell

Battle

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The realization that life is absurdand cannot be an end, but only abeginning. This is a truth nearly allgreat minds have taken…

James Branch Cabell

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I have followed after the truth, across this windy planet upon which every person is nourished by one or another lie.

James Branch Cabell

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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

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The desire to write perfectly of beautiful happenings is, as the saying runs, old as the hills — and as immortal.

James Branch Cabell

Beautiful

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There is not any memory with less satisfaction in it than the memory of some temptation we resisted

James Branch Cabell

Memory

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What really matters is that there is so much faith and love and kindliness which we can share with and provoke in…

James Branch Cabell

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“Everything in life is miraculous. It rests within the power of each of us to awaken from a dragging nightmare of life…

James Branch Cabell

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

James Branch Cabell

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Yet creeds mean very little, Coth answered the dark god, still speaking almost gently. The optimist proclaims that we live in the…

James Branch Cabell

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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

Blunders

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A book , once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author…

James Branch Cabell

Book

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

James Branch Cabell

Allison

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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

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In the beginning the Gods made man, and fashioned the sky and the sea, And the earth's fair face for man's dwelling-place,…

James Branch Cabell

Blind

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For although this was a very heroic war, with a parade of every sort of high moral principle, and with the most…

James Branch Cabell

Conclusion

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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

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Sad hours and glad hours, and all hours, pass over; One thing unshaken stays: Life, that hath Death for spouse, hath Chance…

James Branch Cabell

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If we assiduously cultivate our powers of exaggeration, perhaps we, too, shall obtain the Paradise of Liars. And there Raphael shall paint…

James Branch Cabell

Bohemia

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“To submit is the great lesson. I too was once a dreamer: and in dreams there are lessons. But to submit, without…

James Branch Cabell

Dreams

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I have read that the secret of gallantry is to accept the pleasures of life leisurely, and its inconveniences with a shrug;…

James Branch Cabell

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I fight against the gluttony of time with so many very amusing weapons with gestures and with three attitudes and with charming…

James Branch Cabell

Amusing

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What am I that I am called upon to have prejudices concerning the universe?

James Branch Cabell

Physics

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Life is very marvelous ... and to the wonders of the earth there is no end appointed.

James Branch Cabell

Earth

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James Branch Cabell by topic

Men (14) Life (13)