Penelope Fitzgerald quotes
-
“To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is – in other words, not a thing, but a think.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “The Gate of Angels”, p.49, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“Helping other people is a drug so dangerous that there is no cure short of total abstention.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (2013). “Human Voices”, p.109, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“I believe that people should write biographies only about people they love, or understand, or both. Novels, on the other hand, are often better if they're about people the writer doesn't like very much.”
-- Penelope Fitzgerald -
“I have remained true to my deepest convictions. I mean the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as comedy—for otherwise how can we manage to bear it?”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (2009). “A House of Air”, p.13, HarperCollins UK
-
-
“Experiences aren't given to us to be 'got over,' otherwise they would hardly be experiences.”
-- Penelope Fitzgerald -
“A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life, and as such it must surely be a necessary commodity.”
-- Penelope Fitzgerald -
“It is interesting to note that everyone has a different take on the world, a different opinion, and given the same inputs have completely different outputs.”
-- Penelope Fitzgerald#Interesting Quotes #Different Opinions Quotes #World Quotes
-
“It's very good for an idea to be commonplace. The important thing is that a new idea should develop out of what is already there so that it soon becomes an old acquaintance. Old acquaintances aren't by any means always welcome, but at least one can't be mistaken as to who or what they are.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “The Gate of Angels”, p.202, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
-
“If they don't depend on true evidence, scientists are no better than gossips.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “The Gate of Angels”, p.24, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“A word of advice. If, as a young man, student, you are tormented by a desire for women, it is best to get out into the fresh air as much as possible.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1997). “The Blue Flower”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“The body, then, has a mind of its own. It must follow, then, that the Mind has a body of its own, even if it’s like nothing that we can see around us, or have ever seen.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “The Gate of Angels”, p.47, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“Surely you have to succeed, if you give everything you have.' 'I don't see why. Everyone has to give everything they have eventually. They have to die. Dying can't be called a success.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1997). “The Bookshop”, p.108, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
-
“More than that, I believe that the grass is green because green is restful to the human eye, that the sky is blue to give us an idea of the infinite. And that blood is red so that murder will be more easily detected and criminals will be brought to justice. Yes, and I believe that I shall live forever, but I shall live without reason.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “The Gate of Angels”, p.48, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“Duty is what no-one else will do at the moment.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1998). “Offshore: A Novel”, p.6, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“Morality is seldom a safe guide for human conduct.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (1978). “The Bookshop”, p.100, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
-
“Behind their dark glass, the mad own nothing.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald, Charlotte Mary Mew (1988). “Charlotte Mew and her friends: with a selection of her poems”, Addison-Wesley
-
-
“On the whole, I think you should write biographies of those you admire and respect, and novels about human beings who you think are sadly mistaken.”
-- Penelope FitzgeraldSource : Penelope Fitzgerald (2008). “So I have thought of you: the letters of Penelope Fitzgerald”, Fourth Estate (GB)
You may also like:
-
A. S. Byatt
Novelist -
Alan Hollinghurst
Novelist -
Anita Brookner
Novelist -
Barbara Pym
Novelist -
Bernice Rubens
Novelist -
Beryl Bainbridge
Writer -
Charlotte Mew
Poet -
Edith Wharton
Novelist -
Edward Burne-Jones
Artist -
Elizabeth Bowen
Novelist -
Hermione Lee
College Professor -
Iris Murdoch
Author -
J. G. Farrell
Novelist -
Jane Gardam
Writer -
Julian Barnes
Writer -
Muriel Spark
Novelist -
Norman Rush
Writer -
Novalis
Poet -
Penelope Lively
Writer -
Ronald Knox
Author