Diana Athill

An important aspect of the ebbing of sex was that other things became interesting. Sex obliterates the individuality of young women more…

— Diana Athill

“I am not sure that digging in our past guilts is a useful occupation for the very old, given that one can…

— Diana Athill

“We must always remember that we are only midwives—if we want praise for progeny we must give birth to our own.”

— Diana Athill

“To me it was plain silly. It is so obvious that life works in terms of species rather than individuals. The individual…

— Diana Athill

“She was an object lesson on the essential luck, whatever hardships may come their way, of those born able to make things.”

— Diana Athill

“Dwindling energy is one of the most boring things about being old. From time to time you get a day when it…

— Diana Athill

The extension of power offered by a pony, the ease and speed of movement, the tapping of unsuspected courage, the satisfaction of…

— Diana Athill

“All through my sixties I felt I was still within hailing distance of middle age, not safe on its shores, perhaps, but…

— Diana Athill

“Generally office and home were far apart, and home was much more important than office. I was not ashamed of valuing my…

— Diana Athill

You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which…

— Diana Athill

“I have heard people bewailing man's landing on the moon, as though before it was touched by an astronaut's foot it was…

— Diana Athill

“How, then, does the written word work? What part of a reader absorbs it - or should that be a double question:…

— Diana Athill

Writing shouldn't come between the reader and what's being described. It should be as transparent as possible.

— Diana Athill

Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK.

— Diana Athill

“It was like removing layers of crumpled brown paper from an awkwardly shaped parcel, and revealing the attractive present which it contained.”

— Diana Athill