Penelope Lively Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.”

“The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social change is gain rather than loss.”

“We read Greek and Norse mythology until it came out of our ears. And the Bible.”

“You learn a lot, writing fiction.”

“All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to me; if I were not able to read, to revisit old favorites and experiment with names new to me, I would be starved - probably too starved to go on writing myself.”

“Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to suit the perceptions of the present.”

“I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I used to do much tramping of the English landscape in search of ancient field systems, drove roads, indications of prehistoric settlement.”

“It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had, and the feeling that I'd just have a go and see if I could do it.”

“I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm eternally grateful for.”

“Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.”