Malcolm Bradbury quotes

The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth. (Malcolm Bradbury)
To you liberals, of course, goats are just sheep from broken homes. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
I like the English. They have the most rigid code of immorality in the world. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
My experience of ships is that on them one makes an interesting discovery about the world. One finds one can do without it completely. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Reading someone else's newspaper is like sleeping with someone else's wife. Nothing seems to be precisely in the right place, and when you find what you are looking for, it is not clear then how to respond to it. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
The better class of Briton likes to send his children away to school until they're old and intelligent enough to come home again. Then they're too old and intelligent to want to. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
With sociology one can do anything and call it work. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Genitals are a great distraction to scholarship. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
I've often thought that my scruples about stealing books were the only thing that stood in the way of my being a really great scholar. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Jochum had said, "You keep asking the universe 'How ought I to live?' View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
[...], and the traffic noise that boomed in through the window was another reminder of what his spirit knew, that he was but a grain of sand in someone else's desert. (Malcolm Bradbury)
If God had been a liberal, we wouldn't have had the Ten Commandments - we'd have the Ten Suggestions. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Only the old are innocent. That is what the Victorians understood, and the Christians. Original sin is a property of the young. The old grow beyond corruption very quickly. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Well," said Dr Jochum, "you are like all reformers. You like to reform the world because it is easier than trying to reform yourself. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Everyone exploits somebody. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
In Slaka, sex is just politics with the clothes off. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Oh, everybody exploits somebody,' says Howard, 'in this social order it's part of the human lot. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
It had always seemed to Louis that a fundamental desire to take postal courses was being sublimated by other people into sexual activity. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
It must be nice to think there is a true reality,' says Miss Callendar. 'I've always found reality a matter of great debate. (Malcolm Bradbury)
[...] You see, you are an optimist and live on hope. I am a pessimist and live on experience. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Well, yes, surely I think everybody ought to enjoy life as much as it's humanly possible because that's why we exist. I believe. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
We got a course in picknicking at the university," said Dr. Bourbon. "It's called Geology, but it's really picknicking. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury
Look, Felicity,' says Howard, 'there's only one rule. Follow the line of your own desires. View quote
Malcolm Bradbury