Claud Cockburn Quotes

A collection of quotes by Claud Cockburn.

Claud Cockburn (1904-1981) was a British journalist and author. Known for his leftist views and witty writing style, Cockburn worked for various British newspapers and magazines, including The Times and The Daily Worker. He reported on the Spanish Civil War and later became a correspondent in Moscow and Berlin. Cockburn's investigative journalism and passionate political commentary covered a wide range of topics, from international affairs to crime and corruption. He authored several books, including his memoir "I Claud: Memoirs of a Subversive" and "The Nation's Health" which exposed the failings of the British healthcare system.

Nothing sets a person up more than having something turn out

Nothing sets a person up more than having something turn out just the way it's supposed to be, like falling into a Swiss snowdrift and seeing a big dog come up with a little cask of brandy round its neck.

Evidently there are plenty of people in journalism who have

Evidently there are plenty of people in journalism who have neither got what they liked nor quite grown to like what they get. They write pieces they do not much enjoy writing, for papers they totally despise, and the sad process ends by ruining their style and disintegrating their personality, two developments which in a writer cannot be separate, since his personality and style must progress or deteriorate together, like a married couple in a country where death is the only permissible divorce.

What arouses the indignation of the honest satirist is not,

What arouses the indignation of the honest satirist is not, unless the man is a prig, the fact that people in positions of power or influence behave idiotically, or even that they behave wickedly. It is that they conspire successfully to impose upon the public a picture of themselves as so very sagacious, honest and well-intentioned.