I'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any aspect of the past, whether it's palaeontology or archaeology or the very recent past.

Quote by Penelope Lively

Topics: Penelope Lively Quotes

I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to...

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to...

I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm...

I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm...

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of...

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of...

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

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

I have had to empty two family homes during the last few years - first,...

I have had to empty two family homes during the last few years - first,...

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I rather like getting away from fiction.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.

You learn a lot, writing fiction.

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they...

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they...

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have...

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have...

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it...

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it...

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...