Penelope Fitzgerald Quotes

17 quotes in 275 categories

• 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…
• 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…
• 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…
• 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…
• 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,…
• Experiences aren't given to us to be 'got over,' otherwise they would hardly be experiences.
• 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…
• 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…
• If they don't depend on true evidence, scientists are no better than gossips.
• 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…
• 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…
• Behind their dark glass, the mad own nothing.
• Helping other people is a drug so dangerous that there is no cure short of total abstention.
• Morality is seldom a safe guide for human conduct.
• Duty is what no-one else will do at the moment.
• To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is – in other words, not a thing, but a think.
• However, no two people see the external world in exactly the same way. To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is…

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