Penelope Lively quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Penelope Lively on Wise Famous Quotes.

Penelope Lively quotes: Charlotte views her younger selves with a certain detachment. They are herself, but other incarnations, innocents going about half-forgotten business.

Charlotte views her younger selves with a certain detachment. They are herself, but other incarnations, innocents going about half-forgotten business.

Penelope Lively quotes: The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky medium, time - and central to the concerns of fiction.

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky medium, time - and central to the concerns of fiction.

Penelope Lively quotes: Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

Penelope Lively quotes: We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

Penelope Lively quotes: I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm eternally grateful for.

I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm eternally grateful for.

Penelope Lively quotes: It seems to her that your family is at once utterly familiar and entirely unknown.

It seems to her that your family is at once utterly familiar and entirely unknown.

Penelope Lively quotes: Born in Jerusalem, Wadie Said went from being a dragoman to a salesman in the United States and thence to a hugely successful businessman in Egypt.

Born in Jerusalem, Wadie Said went from being a dragoman to a salesman in the United States and thence to a hugely successful businessman in Egypt.

Penelope Lively quotes: It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of choice and contingency.

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of choice and contingency.

Penelope Lively quotes: People die, but money never does.

People die, but money never does.

Penelope Lively quotes: I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

Penelope Lively quotes: There's a fearful term that's in fashion at the moment - closure. People apparently believe it is desirable and attainable.

There's a fearful term that's in fashion at the moment - closure. People apparently believe it is desirable and attainable.

Penelope Lively quotes: Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to suit the perceptions of the present.

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to suit the perceptions of the present.

Penelope Lively quotes: I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

Penelope Lively quotes: For me, reading is my essential palliative, my daily fix.

For me, reading is my essential palliative, my daily fix.

Penelope Lively quotes: I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.

Penelope Lively quotes: History is a slippery business; the past is not a constant but a landscape that mutates according to argument and opinion.

History is a slippery business; the past is not a constant but a landscape that mutates according to argument and opinion.

Penelope Lively quotes: The past is our ultimate privacy; we pile it up, year by year, decade by decade, it stows itself away, with its perverse random recall system.

The past is our ultimate privacy; we pile it up, year by year, decade by decade, it stows itself away, with its perverse random recall system.

Penelope Lively quotes: The cupidity centered on bank statements and shareholdings is more difficult to understand than the avarice of an Elizabethan trader.

The cupidity centered on bank statements and shareholdings is more difficult to understand than the avarice of an Elizabethan trader.

Penelope Lively quotes: We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

Penelope Lively quotes: We read Greek and Norse mythology until it came out of our ears. And the Bible.

We read Greek and Norse mythology until it came out of our ears. And the Bible.

Penelope Lively quotes: Like most people, they know one another inside out, and not at all.

Like most people, they know one another inside out, and not at all.

Penelope Lively quotes: Thinks that it is a poor sort of life that has not known expectation, the pleasure of savoring ahead. So enjoy it while you have it, he tells himself.

Thinks that it is a poor sort of life that has not known expectation, the pleasure of savoring ahead. So enjoy it while you have it, he tells himself.

Penelope Lively quotes: Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Penelope Lively quotes: Mythology is much better stuff than history. It has form; logic; a message.

Mythology is much better stuff than history. It has form; logic; a message.

Penelope Lively quotes: Grief-stricken. Stricken is right; it is as though you had been felled. Knocked to the ground; pitched out of life and into something else.

Grief-stricken. Stricken is right; it is as though you had been felled. Knocked to the ground; pitched out of life and into something else.

Penelope Lively quotes: Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.

Penelope Lively quotes: Behind and byond her looks,her manner, there had been some dark malaise. But nobody ever saw it, back then, he thought. All you saw was her face.

Behind and byond her looks,her manner, there had been some dark malaise. But nobody ever saw it, back then, he thought. All you saw was her face.

Penelope Lively quotes: Far as I'm concerned, they're all still here, like a lot of dear little ghosts.

Far as I'm concerned, they're all still here, like a lot of dear little ghosts.

Penelope Lively quotes: Old age is an insult. Old age is a slap in the face. It sabotages a fine mind ( ... ).

Old age is an insult. Old age is a slap in the face. It sabotages a fine mind ( ... ).

Penelope Lively quotes: If we had not met, that day, I think I would have imagined you somehow.

If we had not met, that day, I think I would have imagined you somehow.

Penelope Lively quotes: If people don't read, that's their choice; a lifelong book habit may itself be some sort of affliction.

If people don't read, that's their choice; a lifelong book habit may itself be some sort of affliction.

Penelope Lively quotes: I find this miraculous. I never cease to wonder at it. That words are more durable than anything ...

I find this miraculous. I never cease to wonder at it. That words are more durable than anything ...

Penelope Lively quotes: Wars are fought by children. Conceived by their mad demonic elders, and fought by boys.

Wars are fought by children. Conceived by their mad demonic elders, and fought by boys.

Penelope Lively quotes: All history, of course, is the history of wars.

All history, of course, is the history of wars.

Penelope Lively quotes: It was as though she had some alter ego who told her she did not belong here. But she had never known anywhere else, and where else could there be?

It was as though she had some alter ego who told her she did not belong here. But she had never known anywhere else, and where else could there be?

Penelope Lively quotes: He felt marvellously conscious of the moment, of here and now, of this day.

He felt marvellously conscious of the moment, of here and now, of this day.

Penelope Lively quotes: The days of our lives vanish utterly, more insubstantial than if they had been invented. Fiction can seem more enduring than reality.

The days of our lives vanish utterly, more insubstantial than if they had been invented. Fiction can seem more enduring than reality.

Penelope Lively quotes: So now we are young still but a better sort of young.

So now we are young still but a better sort of young.

Penelope Lively quotes: She saw the shadows of her children, young again, playing on that tree. And now to be here with him. You cross your own path.

She saw the shadows of her children, young again, playing on that tree. And now to be here with him. You cross your own path.

Penelope Lively quotes: We all act as hinges-fortuitous links between other people.

We all act as hinges-fortuitous links between other people.

Penelope Lively quotes: There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest in history.

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest in history.

Penelope Lively quotes: Unless I am a part of everything I am nothing.

Unless I am a part of everything I am nothing.

Penelope Lively quotes: My understanding of the past has been savagely undermined.

My understanding of the past has been savagely undermined.

Penelope Lively quotes: I've grown old with this century; there's not much left of either of us.

I've grown old with this century; there's not much left of either of us.

Penelope Lively quotes: The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social change is gain rather than loss.

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social change is gain rather than loss.

Penelope Lively quotes: I have no idea where I am going, she thought, but I have begun.

I have no idea where I am going, she thought, but I have begun.

Penelope Lively quotes: The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the present: the time bomb in the cupboard.

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the present: the time bomb in the cupboard.

Penelope Lively quotes: Matt knew only that he must see her again, and forever.

Matt knew only that he must see her again, and forever.

Penelope Lively quotes: Perhaps there is always something in our head that is ready to learn.

Perhaps there is always something in our head that is ready to learn.

Penelope Lively quotes: And now I want to get yesterday down while I still have the awful taste of it

And now I want to get yesterday down while I still have the awful taste of it

Penelope Lively quotes: You write out of experience, and a large part of that experience is the life of the spirit; reading is the liberation into the minds of others.

You write out of experience, and a large part of that experience is the life of the spirit; reading is the liberation into the minds of others.

Penelope Lively quotes: History unravels; circumstances, following their natural inclination, prefer to remain ravelled.

History unravels; circumstances, following their natural inclination, prefer to remain ravelled.

Penelope Lively quotes: I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

Penelope Lively quotes: I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have something to say to children.

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have something to say to children.

Penelope Lively quotes: I rather like getting away from fiction.

I rather like getting away from fiction.

Penelope Lively quotes: You learn a lot, writing fiction.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.

Penelope Lively quotes: Gina has always regarded relationships as shifty business: count on nothing, nothing is forever.

Gina has always regarded relationships as shifty business: count on nothing, nothing is forever.

Penelope Lively quotes: I am addicted to arrivals, to those innocent dawn moments from which history accelerates.

I am addicted to arrivals, to those innocent dawn moments from which history accelerates.

Penelope Lively quotes: Matt only knew that he was entirely happy, wholly in love, and that years of this rolled ahead, waiting for him.

Matt only knew that he was entirely happy, wholly in love, and that years of this rolled ahead, waiting for him.

Penelope Lively quotes: Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.

Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.

Penelope Lively quotes: It seems to me that anyone whose library consists of a Kindle lying on a table is some sort of bloodless nerd.

It seems to me that anyone whose library consists of a Kindle lying on a table is some sort of bloodless nerd.