"It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles."

Muriel Spark Literature See all quotes by Muriel Spark →

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“The one certain way for a woman to hold a man is to leave him for religion.”

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" - "Miss Jean Brodie oma parimas eas", 1989”

“Her sentences march under a harsh sun that bleaches color from them but bestows a peculiar, invigorating, Pascalian clarity.”

“New York, home of the vivisectors of the mind, and of the mentally vivisected still to be reassembled, of those who live intact, habitually wondering about their states of sanity, and home of those whose minds have been dead, bearing the scars of resurrection.”

“She writes well and concisely, and this has tended to obscure the psychological superficiality and sheer petty malice of her content.”

“Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.”

Resonant Thoughts

"It is not events and the things one sees and enjoys that produce happiness, but a state of mind which can endow events with its own quality, and we must hope for the duration of this state rather than…"

— André Maurois

opinion journalism1885–1967

#happiness

"Now if you see that it is inconceivable that anything should exist, it is evident that at least one inconceivable fact is there. That is to say, that which exists is not limited to the conceivable. Si…"

— Celia Green

Psychology1935

#life

"A person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feeling…"

— Albert Einstein

Science1879–1955

#religion