"Rider Haggard: Still Riding", p. 29
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
Famous V.S. Pritchett Quotes
"Evelyn Waugh: Club and Country", p. 101
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
“Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere.”
Vol. 2, Ch. 6
Midnight Oil (1971)
"Rider Haggard: Still Riding", p. 25
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
"Jorge Luis Borges: Medallions", p. 178
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)
"Jean Genet: A Modern Nihilist", p. 102
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)
V.S. Pritchett Quotes about people
As quoted in "V.S. Pritchett Himself" http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/06/18/specials/theroux-pritchett.html?_r=1&oref=slogin by Paul Theroux in The New York Times (22 May 1977)
“All great things, in our time, can only be seen in fragments, by fragmentary people.”
Source: London Perceived (1962), Ch. 5, p. 162
Context: Mass society destroys the things it is told are its inheritance. It is rarely possible to see the Abbey without being surrounded by thousands of tourists from all over the world. Like St. Peter's at Rome, it has been turned into a sinister sort of railway terminal. The aisles are as crowded as the pavements of Oxford Street or the alleys of a large shop, imagination is jostled, awe dispersed, and the mind never at rest. All great things, in our time, can only be seen in fragments, by fragmentary people.
“I found people were telling stories to themselves without knowing it.”
As quoted in "V.S. Pritchett's Century" (1990) by Martin Amis; later included in Visiting Mrs. Nabokov and Other Excursions (1993) by Martin Amis, p. 272
Context: I found people were telling stories to themselves without knowing it. It seemed to me that people were living a sort of small sermon that they believed in, but at the same time it was a fairy tale. Selfish desires, along with one or two highly suspect elevated thoughts. They secretly regard themselves as works of art, valuable in themselves.
V.S. Pritchett Quotes
“Mass society destroys the things it is told are its inheritance.”
Source: London Perceived (1962), Ch. 5, p. 162
Context: Mass society destroys the things it is told are its inheritance. It is rarely possible to see the Abbey without being surrounded by thousands of tourists from all over the world. Like St. Peter's at Rome, it has been turned into a sinister sort of railway terminal. The aisles are as crowded as the pavements of Oxford Street or the alleys of a large shop, imagination is jostled, awe dispersed, and the mind never at rest. All great things, in our time, can only be seen in fragments, by fragmentary people.
"Evelyn Waugh: Club and Country", p. 95
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
“How extraordinary it is that one feels most guilt about the sins one is unable to commit.”
Vol. 2, Ch. 10
Midnight Oil (1971)
"The Worshippers", p. 87
On the Edge of the Cliff: Short Stories (1979)
"Rider Haggard: Still Riding", p. 28
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
"Boris Pasternak: Unsafe Conduct", p. 14
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)
"Rider Haggard: Still Riding", p. 25
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
"Henry James: Birth of a Hermaphrodite", p. 131
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
Quoted in " How Did I Do That? http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/pritchett-complete.html" by Deborah Stead, in The New York Times (24 March 1991)
"Gustave Flaubert: The Quotidian", p. 130
The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers (1979)
V. S. Pritchett, The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980) [Random House, ISBN 0-394-74683-X], "Edmund Wilson: Towards Revolution," p. 141
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
“There is more magic in sin if it is not committed.”
"Rudyard Kipling: A Pre-Raphaelite's Son", p. 36
The Tale Bearers: English and American Writers (1980)
Source: London Perceived (1962), Ch. 1, p. 14
“Yes, well I had all my serious illnesses in late middle age. And now I'm just stuck, I'm afraid.”
As quoted in "V.S. Pritchett's Century" (1990) by Martin Amis; later included in Visiting Mrs. Nabokov and Other Excursions (1993) by Martin Amis, p. 265