I’m afraid I was always constitutionally incapable of bringing myself to the required pitch of enthusiasm

'Were you ever a communist, Bernhard?' I asked. 

At once — I saw it in his face — he was on the defensive. After a moment, he said slowly: 

'No, Christopher. I’m afraid I was always constitutionally incapable of bringing myself to the required pitch of enthusiasm.' 

I felt suddenly impatient with him; angry, even: 'ever to believe in anything?'

Bernhard smiled faintly at my violence. It may have amused him to have roused me like this.

'Perhaps. . .' Then he added, as if to himself: 'No that is not quite true. . . '

'What do you believe in, then?' I challenged. 

Bernhard was silent for some moments, considering this — his beaky delicate profile impassive, his eyes half -closed. At last he said: 'Possibly I believe in discipline.' 

'In discipline?'

'You don't understand that, Christopher? Let me try to explain ... I believe in discipline for myself, not necessarily for others. For others, I cannot judge. I know only that I myself must have certain standards which I obey and without which I am quite lost. . . . Does that sound very dreadful?'

C. Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), 198-9

It is a very solemn undertaking to adore a millionaire

'I adore him,' Sally told me, repeatedly and very solemnly, whenever we were alone together. She was intensely earnest in believing this. It was like a dogma in a newly adopted religious creed; Sally adores Clive. It is a very solemn undertaking to adore a millionaire. Sally's features began to assume, with increasing frequency, the rapt expression of the theatrical nun. And indeed, when Clive, with his charming vague- ness, gave a particularly flagrant professional beggar a 47 twenty-mark note, we would exchange- glances of genuine awe. The waste of so much good money affected us both like something inspired, a kind of miracle.

C. Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), 64

For country music, the coming of Elvis was a disaster

For country music, the coming of Elvis was a disaster. As the standard soundtrack for many Southern homes, country music bound generations together. That began to end with the coming of rock ‘n’ roll. At first, the music industry regarded artists such as Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Everly Brothers as country acts who happened to have special appeal for the kids. But as these artists increasingly dominated the Top 10 country charts, pushing out adult artists, country record promoters began to demand that the trade magazines get the young rock ‘n’ rollers off the country charts before they destroyed the essence of country music. By the end of the 1961, Elvis and the Everly Brothers were gone from the country charts.

M. Kosser, How Nashville became Music City USA (2006), 37

Choosing has become more of a problem than finding

It's easy to forget that there was once a time when books went out of print, films disappeared from cinemas & records got deleted. Stuff got forgotten. We're so used to everything being available all the time, any time, today. Choosing has become more of a problem than finding. But back in the early '80s this book was the only way for me to experience La Dolce Vita. I obviously wasn't getting the full picture - but it was better than nothing. I had made contact with another great work of art.

J. Cocker, Good pop, bad pop (2022), 265

At the age of five I understood that it was bad for us that mama was young and beautiful. It was dangerous.

I knew my mama was young and beautiful. Other children's mamas were older, but at the age of five I understood that it was bad for us that mama was young and beautiful. It was dangerous. I figured it out at the age of five ... I even understood that it was good that I was little. How could a child understand that? Nobody explained anything to me ...

S. Alexievich, tr. R. Pevear and L. Volkhonsky, Last Witnesses [Liuda Andreeva] (1985), 182

During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed.

In the ruins of q German village I saw a child's bicycle lying about. I was happy. I got on it and rode. It rode so well! During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed. Children's toys ...

S. Alexievich, tr. R. Pevear and L. Volkhonsky, Last Witnesses [Volodia Chistokletov] (1985), 42

Good, we thought later, it's lucky they were so skinny, we didn't have to eat them

We had a horse, Maika ... she was old and very gentle, and we used her to carry water. The next day this Maika was killed. We were given water with a small piece of Maika in it ... But they concealed it from us for a long time. We wouldn't have been able to eat her ... Not for anything! She was the only horse in our orphanage. We also had two hungry cats. Skeletons! Good, we thought later, it's lucky they were so skinny, we didn't have to eat them. There was nothing there to eat.

S. Alexievich, tr. R. Pevear and L. Volkhonsky, Last Witnesses [Zina Kosiak] (1985), 15

It was the efforts of the humanitarian and progress-orientated liberals that struck a significant blow at Mexico's indigenous people

Arguably, only in the wake of the War of Independence (1810-1821) did indigenous identity truly suffer. In one of the greatest ironies of history, it was the efforts of the humanitarian and progress-orientated liberals that struck a significant blow at Mexico's indigenous peoples. With all people suddenly equal in the eyes of the law, it seemed counterproductive  to persist in encouraging indigenous peoples to speak in their own language. No longer could a native person go to court and find a translator: that person would need to speak Spanish.

C. Townsend, Fifth Sun (2019), 207

It will never be forgotten, it will always be preserved

It will never be forgotten, it will always be preserved. We will preserve it, we who are the younger brothers, the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, we who are the [family extensions] - the hair, eyebrows, nails - the colour and the blood, we who are the descendants ... we who have been born and lived where lived and governed all the precious ancient Chichimeca kings.

The Nahau historian Chimalpahin, quoted in C. Townsend, Fifth Sun (2019), 197

What the Indians were thinking when they first had Christian doctrines to them has long been a matter of great interest

What the Indians were thinking when they first had Christian doctrines to them has long been a matter of great interest. Generally, Europeans have made their own assumptions without much evidence. At first friars enthusiastically reported that the indigenous were deeply moved and that they, the friars, had been able to baptize many thousands right away. Later, they walked back their assertions that all the Indians had been devout converts from the moment they were sprinkled with holy water, but the friars also remained generally confident in their overall success. They convinced the whole world that they had successfully converted Mexico to Catholicism in relatively short order. Only in the 1990s did it become commonplace for scholars to argue that this premise was indeed false - that in fact the indigenous had not simply rejected generations of belief and accepted Christian teachings without question.

C. Townsend, Fifth Sun (2019), 135

White West Indians have produced more first-class players per thousand of their population than any other community anywhere

Racial generalizations - about certain people being good at ball games - won't help. There has been no West African cricketer; the only Chinese cricketers of standing have come from Trinidad; and, though the fact is seldom noticed, white West Indians have produced more first-class players per thousand of their population than any other community anywhere. Consider now the history of the islands: slavery until 1834, indentured labour until 1917. And then consider the cricket code: gentlemanliness, fair play, teamwork. The very words are tired and, in the West Indian situation, ridiculous, irrelevant. But they filled a need. In islands that had known only brutality and proclaimed greed, cricket and its code provided an area of rest, a release for much that was denied by the society: skill, courage, style: the graces, the very things that a changed world are making the game archaic.   

V.S. Naipaul, 'The Caribbean flavour' (1963), R. Guha (ed.), The Picador book of cricket (2001), 433-4

This game could be laid up in heaven, a Platonic idea of cricket in perfection.

If some good fairy were to ask me to pick out one match of all I have seen, to relive it as I lived it as the time when it happened, my choice would be easy: England v. Australia at Lord's in June 1930. I was at the prime of forty years then, fulfilled in work and happy in home, love and health, the mind still unstaled, yet critical enough. This game could be laid up in heaven, a Platonic idea of cricket in perfection. It was limited to four days and finished at five o'clock on the closing afternoon; 1,601 runs were scored and 29 wickets fell. Bradman batted in a Test match at Lord's for the first time, scoring 254 in his first innings. England batted first and made 425, but lost by 7 wickets. Glorious sunshine blessed every moment's play. London was at its most handsome; 1914 forgotten and 1939 not yet casting a shadow for all to see. I can still catch the warmth and the animation of the scene, feel the mind's and the senses' satisfaction. I can see Grimmett bowling, his arm as low as my grandfather's, his artfulness as acute, and I can still see Chapman as he played one of the most gallant and dazzling and precarious innings which has ever cocked a snook at an Australian team ready and impatient to put to rout and ruin an England team apparently in the last ditch, the ghost about to be given up.

N. Cardus, 'The ideal cricket match' (1956), R. Guha (ed.), The Picador book of cricket (2001), 317-8