No man kills himself unless there is something wrong with his life.
—Al Alvarez
When an artist holds up a mirror to nature he finds out who and what he is; but the knowledge may change him irredeemably so that he becomes that image.
—Al Alvarez
Despair, in short, seeks its own environment as surely as water finds its own level.
—Al Alvarez
Topics: Despair
When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph.
—Al Alvarez
Topics: Glory
Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems essentially uncontrollable, in the coherence of the inchoate, and in its ability to create its own values.
—Al Alvarez
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Christopher Hitchens Anglo-American Social Critic
Ford Madox Ford English Novelist, Poet, Critic
Leigh Hunt British Author
Richard Crashaw British Poet
Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) English Romantic Poet
John Berger English Art Critic, Essayist, Novelist
Thomas Hood British Poet, Humorist
John Keats English Poet
Arthur Henry Hallam English Essayist, Poet
David Whyte Anglo-Irish Poet