Quotes from Ivy Compton-Burnett

Poets generally write as if they were dead. –

Anyone who picks up a Compton-Burnett finds it very hard not to put it down.

When we are told to look on the bright side of things, it is generally not at a happy time.

There is nothing like living together for blinding people to each other.

A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.

Time is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And sometimes when it seems to, no healing has been necessary.

There is probably nothing like living together for blinding people to each other.

At a certain point my novels set. They set just as hard as that jam jar. And then I know they are finished.

There is danger in courage. Cowardice is a power for good. We hardly know what it prevents.

A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.

Appearances are not held to be a clue to the truth. But we seem to have no other.