You learn a lot, writing fiction.

Quote by Penelope Lively

Topics: Penelope Lively Quotes

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,...

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...

I can walk about London and see a society that seems an absolutely revolutionary change...

I can walk about London and see a society that seems an absolutely revolutionary change...

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

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'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any...

I'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any...

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...

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

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

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

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 make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

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...

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social...

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social...

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

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

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

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...

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'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may...

I'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may...

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.