P. D. James Quotes - Page 2

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• Authors always take rejection badly. They equate it with infanticide.

  P. D. James

  Rejection, Infanticide

  P. D. James (2008). “Original Sin”, p.89, Faber & Faber

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• Man is diminished if he lives without knowledge of his past; without hope of a future he becomes a beast.

  P. D. James

  Past, Men, Beast

  FaceBook post by P.D. James from Jan 01, 2017

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• Work did bestow dignity, status, meaning. Wasn't that why people dreaded unemployment, why some men found retirement so traumatic?

  P. D. James

  Retirement, People, Unemployment

  P. D. James (2012). “Original Sin”, p.77, Vintage

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• Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other ­people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.

  P. D. James

  New Experiences, People, Mind

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by P. D. James, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• Not so much two ships passing in the night as two ships sailing together for a time but always bound for different ports.

  P. D. James

  Night, Two, Sailing

  P. D. James (2008). “The Lighthouse”, p.276, Faber & Faber

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• A politician is required to listen to humbug, talk humbug, condone humbug. The most we can hope for is that we don't actually believe it.

  P. D. James

  Believe, Politician, Humbug

  P. D. James (2010). “A Taste for Death”, p.42, Vintage

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• We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.

  P. D. James

  Writing, World, Language

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by P. D. James, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• It's easy to get a reputation for wisdom. It's only necessary to live long, speak little and do less.

  P. D. James

  Inspirational, Long, Littles

  P. D. James (2008). “Original Sin”, p.42, Faber & Faber

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• The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.

  P. D. James

  Men, Self, World

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.154, Vintage

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• In youth we take egregious risks because death has no reality for us. Youth goes caparisoned in immortality. It is only in middle age that we are shadowed by the awareness of the transitoriness of life.

  P. D. James

  Reality, Risk, Age

  P. D. James (2011). “Devices and Desires”, p.211, Vintage

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• All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.

  P. D. James

  Fiction, Autobiography, Courses

  FaceBook post by P.D. James from Jul 05, 2016

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• Charm is often despised but I can never see why. No one has it who isn't capable of genuinely liking others, at least at the actual moment of meeting and speaking. Charm is always genuine; it may be superficial but it isn't false.

  P. D. James

  May, Moments, Superficial

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.26, Vintage

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• I find it extraordinary that a straightforward if inelegant device for ensuring the survival of the species should involve human beings in such emotional turmoil. Does sex have to be taken so seriously?

  P. D. James

  Sex, Taken, Emotional

  P. D. James (2011). “Devices and Desires”, p.158, Vintage

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• I don't see why escapist literature shouldn't also be a work of art.

  P. D. James

  Art, Literature, Works Of Art

  P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.28, Faber & Faber

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• Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft.

  P. D. James

  Raw Materials, Crafts, Increase

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by P. D. James, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• Any visitor to an historic country town or city quickly becomes aware in his or her peregrinations that the most attractive houses in the centre are invariably the offices of lawyers.

  P. D. James

  Country, Cities, Office

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• We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the obligation of liking our friends.

  P. D. James

  Sarcastic, Funny Friendship, War

  P.D. James (2012). “Shroud for a Nightingale”, p.327, Simon and Schuster

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• Crime fiction confirms our belief, despite some evidence to the contrary, that we live in a rational, comprehensible, and moral universe.

  P. D. James

  Fiction, Belief, Moral

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• If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.

  P. D. James

  Inspirational, Children, Kids

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.23, Vintage

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• Perfect love may cast our fear, but fear is remarkably potent in casting out love.

  P. D. James

  Fear, Perfect, May

  "Time to Be in Earnest". Book by P. D. James, 1999.

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• Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.

  P. D. James

  Eye, Mass Extinction, Light

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.24, Vintage

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• Publishers don't nurse you; they buy and sell you.

  P. D. James

  Writing, Nurse, Publishers

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• But what do you believe? I don't just mean religion. What are you sure of?" "That once I was not and that now I am. That one day I shall no longer be.

  P. D. James

  Believe, Mean, One Day

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.236, Vintage

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• Time didn't heal, but it anesthetized. The human mind could only feel so much.

  P. D. James

  Pain, Get Well, Mind

  FaceBook post by P.D. James from Dec 22, 2013

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• First-class travel, provided one hasn't to pay for it oneself, is the most insidiously addictive of life's luxuries.

  P. D. James

  Class, Luxury, Pay

  P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.234, Faber & Faber

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