"In fact, the real problem with the thesis of A Genealogy of Morals is that the noble and the aristocrat are just as likely to be stupid as the plebeian. I had noted in my teens that major writers are usually those who have had to struggle against the odds -- to "pull their cart out of the mud," as I put it -- while writers who have had an easy start in life are usually second rate -- or at least, not quite first-rate. Dickens, Balzac, Dostoevsky, Shaw, H. G. Wells, are examples of the first kind; in the twentieth century, John Galsworthy, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Samuel Beckett are examples of the second kind. They are far from being mediocre writers; yet they tend to be tinged with a certain pessimism that arises from never having achieved a certain resistance against problems."
React to this quote
More by Colin Wilson
See allResonant Thoughts
"Much of our Christianity is not of a sufficiently enlarged type to satisfy an educated Hindoo; not that Unitarianism is necessary, for that system has but a surface-liberalism which can become very ha…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible…"
— Ayn Rand"It is my tamanna to do something for our society; I am inspired by the desire to live and die for my countr…"
— Narendra Modi"At the end of the day I'm maybe clean of cancer right now, but that doesn't mean it won't come back at 100%…"
— Anastacia"There are elements which, if added to one's experience, make life better; there are other elements which if…"
— Thomas Nagel"I once spent an hour and a half trying to explain a situation to "Sepp" Dietrich with the aid of a map. It …"
— Wilhelm Bittrich"My name is Patrick, and I'm a biped carbon-based life form. In my spare time I enjoy walking upright and be…"
— Pat Condell