Joyce Cary

God is a character, a real and consistent being, or He is nothing. If God did a miracle He would deny His own nature and the universe would simply blow up, vanish, become nothing.

Religion is organized to satisfy and guide the soul – politics does the same thing for the body.

I look upon life as a gift from God. I did nothing to earn it. Now that the time is coming to give it back, I have no right to complain.

Love doesn’t grow on trees like apples in Eden – it’s something you have to make. And you must use your imagination too.

It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn’t know – the less a man knows, the more sure it is that he knows everything.

Remember I’m an artist. And you know what that means in a court of law. Next worst to an actress.

A novel should be an experience and convey an emotional truth rather than arguments.

For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.

The will is never free – it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car – it can’t steer.