Quotes from Joyce Cary

Sara could commit adultery at one end and weep for her sins at the other, and enjoy both operations at once.

It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know - the less a man knows, the more sure it is that he knows everything.

I had come at last and my heart was beating again strongly to a heart that could not know despair because it forgot itself in the duty of its love.

Sara could commit adultery at one end and weep for her sins at the other, and enjoy both operations at once.

It is the tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know - and the less a man knows, the more sure he is that he knows everything.

The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car - it can't steer.

For the essential thing about the work of art is that it is work, and very hard work too.

God is a character, a real and consistent being, or He is nothing. If God did a miracle He would deny His own nature and the universe would simply blow up, vanish, become nothing.

Something you have to make...It's all work, work.

A novel should be an experience and convey an emotional truth rather than arguments.

I write the big scenes first, that is, the scenes that carry the meaning of the book, the emotional experience.

To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius.

For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.

Love doesn't grow on trees like apples in Eden - it's something you have to make. And you must use your imagination too.