Quotes from Ford Madox Ford

I guess it is vanity that makes most of us keep straight, if we do keep straight, in this world.

No, any great grief, though the grief itself may have gone, leaves in its place a train of horrors, of misery, and despair.

Pride and reserve are not the only things in life; perhaps they are not even the best things. But if they happen to be your particular virtues you will go all to pieces if you let them go.

How was it possible that the most honourable man she knew should be so overwhelmed by foul and baseless rumours? It made you suspect that honour had, in itself, a quality of the evil eye . . .

Steel is a normal, hard, polished substance. But if you put it in a hot fire it will become red, soft, and not to be handled. If you put it in a fire still more hot it will drip away. It was like that with Leonora. She was made for normal circumstances.

W przedziale panowaÅ' ledwo uchwytny, higieniczny zapach nadzwyczajnego lakieru, a pociÄ…g biegÅ' gÅ'adko niczym (pó?niej Tietjens przypomniaÅ' sobie to porównanie) brytyjskie papiery wartoÅ›ciowe gwarantowane przez rzÄ…d.

nulla dies felix—call no day fortunate till it be ended.

The rocks would be there a million years after the light went for the last time out.

Dziwna to by?a przyja??, ale dziwno?? przyja?ni cz?sto gwarantuje jej trwa?o??.

That may sound romantic but it's just a record of fatigue

Inspector had been in the library, and might possibly have

CzÅ'owiek nie musi ?y? wÅ›ród mÄ™tów spoÅ'eczeÅ"stwa, aby nie usÅ'ysze? nic o mÄ™tach towarzystwa.

Chod?, napijemy si? ginu. Oto prawdziwa odpowied? na wszystkie parszywe problemy.

It has been remarked that the peculiarly English habit of self-suppression in matters of the emotion puts the Englishman at a great disadvantage in moments of unusual stresses. In the smaller matters of the general run of life he will be impeccable and not to be moved; but in sudden confrontations of anything but physical dangers he is apt--he is, indeed, almost certain--to go to pieces very badly.

A fervent young admirer exclaimed: "By Jove, the Good Soldier is the finest novel in the English language!" whereupon my friend John Rodker, who has always had a properly tempered admiration for my work, remarked in his clear, slow drawl: "Ah, yes. It is, but you have left out a word. It is the finest French novel in the English language!"

No more Hope, no more Glory, no more parades for you and me…. Na poo, finny!

Higher than the beasts, lower than the angels, stuck in our idiot Eden.

I know nothing - nothing in the world - of the hearts of men. I only know that I am alone - horribly alone.

The world is full of places to which I want to return

It was an odd friendship, but the oddnesses of friendships are a frequent guarantee of their lasting texture.

There is no man who loves a woman that does not desire to come to her for the renewal of his courage, for the cutting asunder of his difficulties. And that will be the mainspring of his desire for her. We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist.

He wouldn't write a letter because he couldn't without beginning it 'Dear Sylvia' and ending it 'Yours sincerely' or 'truly' or 'affectionately.' He's that sort of precise imbecile. I tell you he's so formal he can't do without all the conventions there are and so truthful he can't use half of them.

If for nine years I have possessed a goodly apple that is rotten at the core and discover its rottenness only in nine years and six months less four days, isn't it true to say that for nine years I possessed a goodly apple?

We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist.