A. S. Byatt Quote

In my mind's eye, Shakespeare is a huge, hot sea-beast, with fire in his veins and ice on his cl...
A. S. BYATT

I think vestigially there's a synesthete in me, but not like a real one who immediately knows wh...
A. S. BYATT

What I need to write well is a combination of heat, light and solitude.
A. S. BYATT

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.
A. S. BYATT

I am not sure how much good is done by moralising about fairy tales. This can be unsubtle - telling ...
A. S. BYATT

In our world of sleek flesh and collagen, Botox and liposuction, what we most fear is the dissolutio...
A. S. BYATT

I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody,...
A. S. BYATT

The point of painting is not really deception or imitation.
A. S. BYATT

Reading a newspaper is like reading someone's letters, as opposed to a biography or a history. T...
A. S. BYATT

I don't like gurus. I don't like people who ask you to follow or believe. I like people who ...
A. S. BYATT

I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can ...
A. S. BYATT

I am a profound pessimist both about life and about human relations and about politics and ecology. ...
A. S. BYATT

You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world...
A. S. BYATT

I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the k...
A. S. BYATT

We talk about feelings. And about sex. And about bodies, and their gratification, violation, repair,...
A. S. BYATT

On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. We see types, an...
A. S. BYATT

I acquired a hunger for fairy tales in the dark days of blackout and blitz in the Second World War.
A. S. BYATT

I am suspicious of writers who go looking for issues to address. Writers are neither preachers nor j...
A. S. BYATT

Books that change you, even later in life, give you a kind of electrical shock as the world takes a ...
A. S. BYATT

Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisf...
A. S. BYATT

I think my characters with my fingers, I think my characters with my guts. But when I say I think th...
A. S. BYATT

Biographies are no longer written to explain or explore the greatness of the great. They redress bal...
A. S. BYATT

There are things I take sides about, like capital punishment, which it seems to me there is only one...
A. S. BYATT

For a long time, I felt instinctively irritated - sometimes repelled - by scientific friends' au...
A. S. BYATT

Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends.
A. S. BYATT

As a little girl, I didn't like stories about little girls. I liked stories about dragons and be...
A. S. BYATT

Cyclists. I really hate them. I wish they would not be so self-righteous and realise they are a dang...
A. S. BYATT

I think literary theory has not been terribly good for English studies in a while. It's not that...
A. S. BYATT

Where would we be without inhibitions? They're quite useful things when you look at some of the ...
A. S. BYATT

I'm quite interested in my own mental processes, simply because I'm a failed scientist, and ...
A. S. BYATT

I watch a lot of sport on television. I only watch certain sports, and I only watch them live - I do...
A. S. BYATT

I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total abse...
A. S. BYATT

I think that most of the children's writers live in the world that they've created, and thei...
A. S. BYATT

There is a certain aesthetic pleasure in trying to imagine the unimaginable and failing, if you are ...
A. S. BYATT

I don't understand why, in my work, writing is always so dangerous. It's very destructive. P...
A. S. BYATT

I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as ...
A. S. BYATT

I don't think it is an easy thing to write and expect to be commercial, even if you are from Ven...
A. S. BYATT

You learn different things through fiction. Historians are always making a plot about how certain th...
A. S. BYATT

You learn a lot about love before you ever get there. You learn at least as much about love from boo...
A. S. BYATT

The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn&#...
A. S. BYATT

My professional and human obsession is the nature of language, and my best relationships are with ot...
A. S. BYATT

I'd like to write the way Matisse paints.
A. S. BYATT

I'm not very interested in myself. I do have a deep moral belief that you should always look out...
A. S. BYATT

In novels in general - and also on the television - we do live in a world where bodies is what we ar...
A. S. BYATT

If a novelist tells you something she knows or thinks, and you believe her, that is not because eith...
A. S. BYATT

It's a terrible poison, writing.
A. S. BYATT

It's because I'm a feminist that I can't stand women limiting other women's imaginat...
A. S. BYATT

I'm more interested in books than people, and I always expect everybody else to be, but they'...
A. S. BYATT

I am not an academic who happens to have written a novel. I am a novelist who happens to be quite go...
A. S. BYATT

The true exercise of freedom is - cannily and wisely and with grace - to move inside what space conf...
A. S. BYATT

In England, everyone believes if you think, then you don't feel. But all my novels are about joi...
A. S. BYATT

I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.
A. S. BYATT

One of the reasons I've gotten so attached to talking to scientists is that... they know there i...
A. S. BYATT

I have a dreadful fear that the more you try to prevent revealing the self, the more you do.
A. S. BYATT

I sort of mind living in a time when most of the literature is terribly personal. I suppose it's...
A. S. BYATT

If you want to teach women to be great writers, you should show them the best, and the best was ofte...
A. S. BYATT

I find the attempt to find things out, which scientists are possessed by, to be as human as breathin...
A. S. BYATT

I always say I write my own novels and the characters don't take control of me, but in fact, I l...
A. S. BYATT

When I was a child - in wartime, pre-television - books were my life.
A. S. BYATT

America is full of readers of all different sorts who love books in many different ways, and I keep ...
A. S. BYATT

I like to write about painting because I think visually. I see my writing as blocks of color before ...
A. S. BYATT

Pain hardens, and great pain hardens greatly, whatever the comforters say, and suffering does not en...
ANTONIA S. BYATT

Pain hardens, and great pain hardens greatly, whatever the comforters say, and suffering does not ...
ANTONIA S. BYATT

When you feel bad about yourself you reverse your magnet and repel people.
S A GRAFIO

Laws control humans, humans created laws.
S A LAWRENCE

Randolph Henry Ash: “What is it? My dear?”
Christabel LaMotte: “Ah, how can we bear it?�...
A.S. BYATT

...it is not possible to create the opposite of what one has always known, simply because the opposi...
A.S. BYATT

I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be cons...
A.S. BYATT

You are safe with me."
"I am not at all safe, with you. But I have no desire to be elsewhere.
A.S. BYATT

Ice burns, and it is hard to the warm-skinned to distinguish one
sensation, fire, from the othe...
A.S. BYATT

My Solitude is my Treasure, the best thing I have. I hesitate to go out. If you opened the little ga...
A.S. BYATT

For my true thoughts have spent more time in your company than in anyone else's, these last two or t...
A.S. BYATT

He had been violently confused by her real presence in the opposite inaccessible corner. For months ...
A.S. BYATT

Lists are a form of power.
A.S. BYATT

That is human nature, that people come after you, willingly enough, provided only that you no longer...
A.S. BYATT

Blackadder was fifty-four and had come to editing Ash out of pique. He was the son and grandson of S...
A.S. BYATT

Vocabularies are crossing circles and loops. We are defined by the lines we choose to cross or to be...
A.S. BYATT

Only write to me, write to me, I love to see the hop and skip and sudden starts of your ink.
A.S. BYATT

The individual appears for an instant, joins the community of thought, modifies it and dies; but the...
A.S. BYATT

It was hard for a man and a woman to be fiends with no under thought or glimpsed prospect of sex. Th...
A.S. BYATT

All scholars are a bit mad. All obsessions are dangerous.
A.S. BYATT

Pedro of Portugal's rapt and bizarre declaration of love, in 1356, for the embalmed corpse of his mu...
A.S. BYATT

Contemporary' was in those days [1953] synonymous with 'modern' as it had not been before and is not...
A.S. BYATT

Those words . . . national and portrait. They were both to do with identity: the identity of a cultu...
A.S. BYATT

A metamorphosis... The shining butterfly of the soul from the pupa of the body. Larva, pupa, imago. ...
A.S. BYATT

There was a moment during this time, when his face was on hers, cheek on cheek, brow on brow, heavy ...
A.S. BYATT

Therefore,' said Loki the mockery, to the snake his daughter, 'we need to know everything, or at lea...
A.S. BYATT

He was beautiful, that was always affirmed, but his beauty was hard to fix or to see, for he was alw...
A.S. BYATT

Once upon a time, when men and women hurtled through the air on metal wings, when they wore webbed f...
A.S. BYATT

[H]is mouth pursed, but pursed in American, more generous than English pursing, ready for broader vo...
A.S. BYATT

As for Fergus. He had a habit which Maud was not experienced enough to recognise as a common one in ...
A.S. BYATT

Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with eac...
A.S. BYATT

Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the ...
A. S. W. ROSENBACH

I have seen men hazard their fortunes, go on long journeys halfway around the world, forge friendshi...
A. S. W. ROSENBACH

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.
A. A. MILNE

What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.
A. A. MILNE

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.
A. A. MILNE

Tiggers don't like honey.
A. A. MILNE

I suppose that every one of us hopes secretly for immortality; to leave, I mean, a name behind him w...
A. A. MILNE

Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.
A. A. MILNE

My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong place...
A. A. MILNE

Some people care too much. I think it's called love.
A. A. MILNE

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks.
A. A. MILNE

I am sure of this: that no one can write a book which children will like unless he write it for hims...
A. A. MILNE

War is something of man's own fostering, and if all mankind renounces it, then it is no longer t...
A. A. MILNE

Never forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave.
A. A. MILNE

Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
A. A. MILNE

It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enou...
A. A. HODGE

Bores can be divided into two classes; those who have their own particular subject, and those who do...
A. A. MILNE

If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that h...
A. A. MILNE

The purpose of the present course is the deepening and development of difficulties underlying contem...
A. A. BLASOV

Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems...
A A MILNE

Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when th...
A. A. MILNE

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing w...
A. A. MILNE

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
A. A. MILNE

Some love one, some love two. I love one, and that is you.
A. A. MILNE

Time is swift, it races by; Opportunities are born and die... Still you wait and will not try - A bi...
A. A. MILNE

Silence is a text easy to misread.
A. A. ATTANASIO

Is 'The Wind in the Willows' a children's book? Is 'Alice in Wonderland?' Is ...
A. A. MILNE

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live wi...
A. A. MILNE

You will be better advised to watch what we do instead of what we say.
A. A. MILNE

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you see...
A. A. MILNE

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is onl...
A. A. MILNE

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
A. A. MILNE

You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to...
A. A. MILNE

Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the thing ...
A. A. MILNE

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy...
A. A. MILNE

The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief - call it what you will - ...
A. A. MILNE

A clever conjurer is welcome anywhere, and those of us whose powers of entertainment are limited to ...
A. A. MILNE

Oh, help!” said Pooh. “I’d better go back.”
“Oh, bother!” said Pooh. “I shall hav...
MILNE, A. A.

How would it be,” said Pooh slowly, “if, as soon as we’re out of sight of this Pit, we try to ...
MILNE, A. A.

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and s...
A. A. MILNE

I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.
A. A. MILNE

If one is to be called a liar, one may as well make an effort to deserve the name.
A. A. MILNE

For one person who dreams of making fifty thousand pounds, a hundred people dream of being left fift...
A. A. MILNE

"How long does getting thin take?" Pooh asked anxiously.
A. A. MILNE

My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.
A. A. MILNE

I have decided to catch a Heffalump.
A. A. MILNE

He is wise who knows the sources of knowledge - who knows who has written and where it is to be foun...
A. A. HODGE

The wind was against them now, and Piglet's ears streamed behind him like banners as he fought his w...
MILNE, A. A.

The trees taunt you; the sand mocks you; the water calls your name and they say golf is a quiet game
A. A. MILNE

An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play, it is always possible to get w...
A. A. MILNE

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to you...
A. A. MILNE

I'm giving him a Useful Pot to Keep Things In.
A. A. HODGE

How sweet to be a Cloud Floating in the Blue!
A. A. HODGE

You must never go down to the end of the town if you don't go down with me.
A. A. HODGE

No one truth is rightly held till it is clearly conceived and stated, and no single truth is adequat...
A. A. HODGE

It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enou...
A. A. HODGE

It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. ...
A. A. MILNE

Never forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave.
A. A. MILNE

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace - / Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A. A. MILNE

'Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?' 'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh. Af...
A. A. MILNE

An Expedition to the North Pole.
A. A. HODGE

The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there
A. A. MILNE

No doubt Jack the Ripper excused himself on the grounds that it was human nature.
A. A. MILNE

We can't all, and some just don't. That's all there is to it.
A. A. MILNE

Tiggers don't like honey.
A. A. MILNE

He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't...
A. A. MILNE

Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! [Christopher Robin is saying his prayers]
A. A. MILNE

Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how to ask it."Well," he said at...
A. A. MILNE

The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief-call it what you will-than...
A. A. MILNE

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to you...
A. A. MILNE

A church has no right to make anything a condition of membership which Christ has not made a conditi...
A. A. HODGE

Faith must have adequate evidence, else it is mere superstition.
A. A. HODGE

Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things.
A. A. MILNE

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.
A. A. MILNE

How sweet to be a Cloud Floating in the Blue!
A. A. HODGE

A writer wants something more than money for his work: he wants permanence.
A. A. MILNE

No sensible author wants anything but praise.
A. A. MILNE

I gave up writing children's books. I wanted to escape from them as I had once wanted to escape ...
A. A. MILNE

Bearing an eternal longing for Jewishness, I threw myself in all directions and left to work for ano...
S. ANSKY

When I first stepped into literature twenty-five years ago, I wanted to work on behalf of the oppres...
S. ANSKY

A writer has a difficult fate, but a Jewish writer has an especially difficult fate. His soul is tor...
S. ANSKY

All a Jew has to do is recite a few proverbs or anecdotes to consider himself an expert on 'Jewi...
S. ANSKY

Jealousy is only a good thing when your jealous of me.
BREANNA S

When life gives you lemons, do NOT make lemonade. Lemonade is for losers. Make orange juice instead.
NESHIALY S.

Craftiness is a quality in the mind and a vice in the character.
S. DUBAY

I have just about all I can take of myself.
S. BEHRMAN

So? There's two of us and one of you, and whenever we feel like it, we can be three. That's love too...
S. DORA

When you say "I love you", I expect you to prove it.
NESHIALY S.

The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things ...
S. GUDDER

To succeed, your "why you do it" must be strong enough to get you out of bed early in the morning.
MICHAEL S.

If we always live
in constant fear
then we might miss
the beauty of the moment
r...
S. TARR

But it is the yogic path to be introspective, and to be the best person one can be.
S. IYENGAR

People don't care about price, if you have a great story and proposition, they'll buy your product.
MICHAEL S.

If there is shit all around me, how can I eat my ice cream?
S. BALARAM

Think of playing an instrument. When first picking up a new piece of music, a musician hammers out t...
S. CICCARELLI

Life travels steeper when we always LACK something and try make up with it
VIGNESH S

Being free in Jesus is a luxury. If you really desire to be free in Jesus, you’re going to have to...
GODISNOW1'S

...mammalian embryos, regardless of their sex chromosome constitutions, have an inherent tendency to...
S. OHNO

As hard as modern man strives to be free he is a slave chained to the past.
S. OHNO

உலகம் முழுவதும் வீடுகள் இருக்கின்றன...
S. RAMAKRISHNAN

வெற்றி பெற்றவனை விட தோற்றவனிடம் தான்...
S. RAMAKRISHNAN

Whenever you're late, make others wonder if they can handle your success if you came on time
VIGNESH S

Loneliness can either kill you or teach you depending on you being either a fighter or a survivor
VIGNESH S

If God never gave me one more thing in my life, then you, right now, would be enough. You are my Day...
S. KHUBIAR

Our goals are to find an easy way to find high risk (women) and to make the counseling process more ...
S. HUGHES

On a superficial level, self-esteem techniques and a tough "refusal to allow others to hurt me" tact...
JUSTIN S. HOLCOMB & LINDSEY A. HOLCOMB

I enjoy doing my work, and I don't want to deal with the other things. When you enjoy doing your...
A. BALASUBRAMANIAM

My work is not directly about the social or political.
A. BALASUBRAMANIAM

I have never been able to read Agatha Christie - the pleasure is purely in the puzzle, and the reader is toyed with by someone who didn't decide herself who the killer was until the end of the writing.

Copied!

A. S. Byatt

I have never been able to read Agatha Christie - the pleasure is purely in the puzzle, and the reader is toyed with by someone who didn't decide herself who the killer was until the end of the writing.

A. S. Byatt

Share:

Related

More A. S. Byatt