William Thomas Beckford quotes

William Thomas Beckford was an English novelist, art collector, and critic, renowned for his gothic novel "Vathek". His immense wealth allowed him to amass spectacular collections and build the extravagant Fonthill Abbey. He became a controversial figure, known for his eccentric lifestyle and significant cultural influence. Here are 8 of his quotes:

Eternal Power! Grant me through obvious clouds one transient gleam Of thy bright essence in my dying hour!

William Thomas Beckford

When he was angry, one of his eyes became so terrible, that no person could bear to behold it; and the wretch upon whom it was fixed, instantly fell backward, and sometimes expired. For fear, however, of depopulating his dominions, and making his palace desolate, he but rarely gave way to his anger.

William Thomas Beckford

One of the vilest men of his time.

William Thomas Beckford

I myself have a great desire to watch over thy conduct, and visit the subterranean palace, which, no doubt, contains whatever can interest persons like us. There is nothing so pleasing as retiring to caverns: my taste for dead bodies, and everything like mummy, is decided.

William Thomas Beckford

I am not over-fond of resisting temptation.

William Thomas Beckford

The great Apostle of Paederasty.

William Thomas Beckford

[Vathek] has, in parts, been called, but to some judgments, never is, dull: it is certainly in parts, grotesque, extravagant and even nasty. But Beckford could plead sufficient "local colour" for it, and a contrast, again almost Shakespearean, between the flickering farce atrocities of the beginning and the sombre magnificence of the end. Beckford's claims, in fact, rest on the half-score or even half-dozen pages towards the end: but these pages are hard to parallel in the later literature of prose fiction.

William Thomas Beckford