Malcolm Cowley Quotes

Talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you

talent genius possess

The late 1920s were an age of islands, real and metaphorical. They were an age when Americans by thousands and tens of thousands were scheming to take the next boat for the South Seas or the West Indies, or better still for Paris, from which they could scatter to Majorca, Corsica, Capri or the isles of Greece. Paris itself was a modern city that seemed islanded in the past, and there were island countries, like Mexico, where Americans could feel that they had escaped from everything that oppressed them in a business civilization. Or without leaving home they could build themselves private islands of art or philosophy; or else - and this was a frequent solution - they could create social islands in the shadow of the skyscrapers, groups of close friends among whom they could live as unconstrainedly as in a Polynesian valley, live without moral scruples or modern conveniences, live in the pure moment, live gaily on gin and love and two lamb chops broiled over a coal fire in the grate. That was part of the Greenwich Village idea, and soon it was being copied in Boston, San Francisco, everywhere.

boats philosophy idea age business home art live moment city past real leaving friends fire feel shadow idealism moral south civilization pure solution escape create americans metaphorical lost-generation san-francisco social close part mexico paris modern greece love west lamb boat gin

.. But you drank your black coffee by choice, believeng that Paris was sufficient alcohol.

paris

They tell you that you'll lose your mind when you grow older. What they don't tell you is that you won't miss it very much.

mind