Quotes by Rebecca West

A strong hatred is the best lamp to bear in our hands as we go over the dark places of life, cutting away the dead things men tell us to revere. (Rebecca West)

All men should have a drop of treason in their veins, if nations are not to go soft like so many sleepy pears. (Rebecca West)

Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience. (Rebecca West)

Because hypocrisy stinks in the nostrils one is likely to rate it as a more powerful agent for destruction than it is. (Rebecca West)

Before a war military science seems a real science, like astronomy; but after a war it seems more like astrology. (Rebecca West)

Everyone realizes that one can believe little of what people say about each other. But it is not so widely realized that even less can one trust what people say about themselves. (Rebecca West)

God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide. (Rebecca West)

He is every other inch a gentleman. (Rebecca West)

He was every other inch a gentleman. (Rebecca West)

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. (Rebecca West)