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."

"I like the English. They have the most rigid code of immorality in the world."

"With sociology one can do anything and call it work."

"Reading someone elses newspaper is like sleeping with someone elses 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."

"Ive often thought that my scruples about stealing books were the only thing that stood in the way of my being a really great scholar."

"[A]nd 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 elses desert."

"Well," said Dr Jochum, "you are like all reformers. You like to reform the world because it is easier than trying to reform yourself."

"The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth."

"We got a course in picknicking at the university," said Dr. Bourbon. "Its called Geology, but its really picknicking."

"Well, yes, surely I think everybody ought to enjoy life as much as its humanly possible because thats why we exist. I believe."

"You see, you are an optimist and live on hope. I am a pessimist and live on experience."

"Oh, everybody exploits somebody, says Howard, in this social order its part of the human lot."