Gerald Brenan

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.”

“The possession of a library, however fine, is not a guarantee of culture.”

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

“The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.”

“The truth is that the writers who most influenced me were not the ones I loved best, but the ones I was most capable of imitating.”

“The best of life is conversation.”

“In Spain the past is not a dead thing, but a part of the living present.”

“No one who has ever known what it is to lose faith in a religion or an ideology can feel anything but the greatest reverence for and attachment to the humble facts of life.”

“Life is a copiously branching spring, a source of countless interests, joys, regrets, loyalties, and passions.”

“A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out.”

“Spain is a country of violent contrasts.”

“The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not to long for what is out of sight.”