"Nobody is familiar with his own profile, and it comes as a shock, when one sees it in a portrait, that one really looks like that to people standing beside one. For one's full face, because of the familiarity that mirrors give it, a certain toleration and even affection is felt; but I must say that when I first saw the model of the gold piece that the mint-masters were striking for me I grew angry and asked whether it was intended to be a caricature. My little head with its worried face perched on my long neck, and the Adam's apple standing out almost like a second chin, shocked me. But Messalina said: "No, my dear, that's really what you look like. In fact, it is rather flattering than otherwise.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Novelists from EnglandHistorical novelistsPoets from EnglandTranslators from EnglandMemoirists from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 6
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Robert Graves
Robert Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a prolific English poet, scholar and novelist. He is most famous for his autobiographical work Goodbye to All That, and works on classical themes and mythology, such as I, Claudius, The Greek Myths and The White Goddess. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves.
106 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Robert Graves →
Related Quotes
"Love is a universal migraine. A bright stain on the vision Blotting out reason."
"Take courage, lover! Could you endure such pain At any hand but hers?"
"So when I'm killed, don't wait for me, Walking the dim corridor; In Heaven or Hell, don't wait for me, Or you must wa…"
"Down, wanton, down! Have you no shame That at the whisper of Love’s name, Or Beauty’s, presto! up you raise Your angr…"
"To the much-tossed Ulysses, never done With woman whether gowned as wife or whore, Penelope and Circe seemed as one: …"
"They multiplied into the Sirens' throng, Forewarned by fear of whom he stood bound fast Hand and foot helpless to the…"
"The dead may speak the truth only, even when it discredits themselves."
"To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession."
"I believe that every English poet should read the English classics, master the rules of grammar before he attempts to…"
"It doesn't matter what's the cause, What wrong they say we're righting, A curse for treaties, bonds and laws, When we…"