Cyril Connolly book Enemies of Promise
Source: Enemies of Promise (1938), Part 1: Predicament, Ch. 2: The Mandarin Dialect (p. 13)
Cyril Connolly book Enemies of Promise
Source: Enemies of Promise (1938), Part 1: Predicament, Ch. 2: The Mandarin Dialect (p. 13)
Kenneth Tynan (1927–1980) English theatre critic and writer
"Bernard Shaw" (1956), p. 102
Profiles (1990)
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.”
Theophrastus (-371–-287 BC) ancient greek philosopher
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book 5.
“The most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings;”
Alfred Marshall book Principles of Economics
Source: Principles of Economics, (1890), p. 468 (9th ed. 2009).
Context: If we compare one country of the civilized world with another, or one part of England with another, or one trade in England with another, we find that the degradation of the working-classes varies almost uniformly with the amount of rough work done by women. The most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings; and of that capital the most precious part is the result of the care and influence of the mother, so long as she retains her tender and unselfish instincts, and has not been hardened by the strain and stress of unfeminine work.
“time is the most valuable thing that we have, because it is the most irrevocable.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi
Variant: Time is the most precious gift in our possession, for it is the most irrevocable.
Source: As quoted in LIFE magazine (22 April 1957), p. 152; also in Letters and Papers from Prison (1967), p. 47.
Context: Time is the most precious gift in our possession, for it is the most irrevocable. This is what makes it so disturbing to look back upon the time which we have lost. Time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering. Time lost is time not filled, time left empty.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Said to portrait painter Samuel Johnson Woolf, cited in Here am I (1941), Samuel Johnson Woolf; this has often been abbreviated: Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.
Context: A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use.
Stendhal (1783–1842) French writer
Ce sera la noblesse de leur style qui, dans quarante ans, rendra illisibles nos écrivains de 1840.
Marginalia note, first edition of La Chartreuse de Parme (1840)
George Soros (1930) Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Soros on Soros (1995)
“If you write with passion in your own style, you will make a place for yourself”
Dean Koontz (1945) American author