Twentieth century music is ...

Twentieth century music is like paedophilia. No matter how persuasively and persistently its champions urge their cause, it will never be accepted by the public at large, who will continue to regard it with incomprehension, outrage and repugnance.
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 Kingsley Amis

Quotes from the same author

Misprize common sense at your peril is my motto.
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 Kingsley Amis
[Science fiction is] that class of prose narrative treating of a situation that could not arise in the world we know, but which is hypothesised on the basis of some innovation in science or technology, or pseudo-science or pseudo-technology, whether human or extra-terrestrial in origin. It is distinguished from pure fantasy by its need to achieve verisimilitude and win the 'willing suspension of disbelief' through scientific plausibility.
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 Kingsley Amis
The rewards for being sane may not be very many, but knowing what's funny is one of them.
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 Kingsley Amis
The world that seemed so various and new, well, it does contract. One's burning desire to investigate human behavior, and to make, or imply, statements about it, does fall off. And so one does find that early works are full of energy and also full of vulgarity, crudity, and incompetence, and later works are more carefully finished, and in that sense better literary products. But . . . there's often a freshness that is missing in later works--for every gain there's a loss. I think it evens out in that way.
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 Kingsley Amis
Self criticism must be my guide to action, and the first rule for its employment is that in itself it is not a virtue, only a procedure.
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 Kingsley Amis