A. S. Byatt Quotes - Page 3

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

A. S. Byatt

Writing, Light, Solitude

"As Byatt" by A. S. Byatt, www.theguardian.com. August 14, 2004.

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Things are not what they seem.

A. S. Byatt

Deceived, Things Are Not What They Seem, Seems

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

A. S. Byatt

Trying, Failing, Imagine

"Clinging to the wreckage" by A. S. Byatt, www.theguardian.com. September 6, 2002.

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The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.

A. S. Byatt

Writing, Research, Ease

"AS Byatt's The Children's Book". "The Book Show" with Ramona Koval, www.abc.net.au. April 24, 2009.

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Good writing is always new.

A. S. Byatt

Writing, Good Writing

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Novels arise out of the shortcomings of History.

A. S. Byatt

History, Arise, Novel

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That is human nature, that people come after you, willingly enough, provided only that you no longer love or want them.

A. S. Byatt

People, Want, Human Nature

FaceBook post by A.S. Byatt from Sep 11, 2014

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In our world of sleek flesh and collagen, botox and liposuction, what we most fear is the dissolution of the body-mind, the death of the brain.

A. S. Byatt

Our World, Brain, Mind

"Soul searching" by A. S. Byatt, www.theguardian.com. February 13, 2004.

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Where would we be without inhibitions? Theyre quite useful things when you look at some of the things humans do if they lose them.

A. S. Byatt

Looks, Useful Things, Humans

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I was no good at being a child.

A. S. Byatt

Children

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In England, everyone believes if you think, then you don't feel. But all my novels are about joining together thinking and feeling.

A. S. Byatt

Believe, Thinking, Feelings

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

A. S. Byatt

Vocabulary, Circles, Lines

FaceBook post by A.S. Byatt from Aug 04, 2013

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Cyclists. I really hate them. I wish they would not be so self-righteous and realise they are a danger to pedestrians. I wish cyclists would not vindictively snap off wing mirrors on cars when they were trying to cross in front of the car at a danger to motorists and pedestrians.

A. S. Byatt

Hate, Mirrors, Self

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Ice burns, and it is hard to the warm-skinned to distinguish one sensation, fire, from the other, frost.

A. S. Byatt

Fire, Ice, Frost

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

A. S. Byatt

Writing, Ink, Hops

A S Byatt (2012). “Possession: A Romance”, p.133, Random House

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You know, it's a truism that writers for children must still be children themselves, deep down, must still feel childish feelings, and a child's surprise at the world.

A. S. Byatt

Children, Feelings, World

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Creative Writing was not a form of psychotherapy, in ways both sublime and ridiculuous, it clearly was, precisely that.

A. S. Byatt

Writing, Creative, Sublime

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Independent women must expect more of themselves, since neither men nor other more conventionally domesticated women will hope for anything, or expect any result other than utter failure.

A. S. Byatt

Independent, Independent Women, Men

A S Byatt (2012). “Possession: A Romance”, p.307, Random House

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I cannot bear not to know the end of a tale. I will read the most trivial things – once commenced – only out of a feverish greed to be able to swallow the ending – sweet or sour – and to be done with what I need never have embarked on. Are you in my case? Or are you a more discriminating reader? Do you lay aside the unprofitable?

A. S. Byatt

Sweet, Greed, Needs

A S Byatt (2012). “Possession: A Romance”, p.176, Random House

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Young girls are sad. They like to be; it makes them feel strong.

A. S. Byatt

Girl, Strong, Young

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Harm can come about without will or action. But will and action can avert harm.

A. S. Byatt

Action, Harm, Avert

A S Byatt (2009). “The Children's Book”, p.192, Random House

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There are many ways of writing badly about painting... There is an 'appreciative' language of threadbare, not inaccurate, but overexposed and irritating words... the language of the schools which 'situates' works and artists in schools and movements... novelists and poets [that] see paintings as allegories of writing.

A. S. Byatt

School, Writing, Artist

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You did not so much mind being -conventionally- betrayed, if you were not kept in the dark, which was humiliating, or defined only as a wife and dependent person, which was annihilating.

A. S. Byatt

Dark, Wife, Mind

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

A. S. Byatt

Desire, Safe, Elsewhere

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I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful.

A. S. Byatt

World, Absence, Reason

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Born: August 24, 1936
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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