Anthony Powell Quotes

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you have not committed.

Later in life, I learnt that many things one may require have to be weighed against one's dignity, which can be an insuperable barrier against advancement in almost any direction. However, in those days, choice between dignity and unsatisfied curiosity was less clear to me as a cruel decision that had to be made.

The potential biographies of those who die young possess the mystic dignity of a headless statue, the poetry of enigmatic passages in an unfinished or mutilated manuscript, unburdened with contrived or banal endings.

In the seven years or so that had passed since I had last seen him, Sir Magnus Donners had grown not so much older in appearance, as less like a human being.

It was [Hugh's] omnipresent fear that some woman might be foisted on him who would turn out to be an adventuress and would blackmail him. This preoccupation made it almost impossible for him to engage a secretary.

Bring a torch, if you've got one. It's as dark as hell and stinks of something far worse than cheese.

There is, after all, no pleasure like that given by a woman who really wants to see you.

Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.