P. D. James Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• however long we have to live, there are never enough springs.

  P. D. James

  Spring, Long, Enough

  P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.289, Faber & Faber

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• Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other ­people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.

  P. D. James

  New Experiences, People, Mind

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by P. D. James, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• I knew the facts of death before I knew the facts of life. There never was a time when I didn't see the skull beneath the skin.

  P. D. James

  Skulls, Skins, Facts

  P.D. James (2012). “The Skull Beneath the Skin: A Cordelia Gray Mystery”, p.159, Simon and Schuster

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• All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.

  P. D. James

  Fiction, Autobiography, Courses

  FaceBook post by P.D. James from Jul 05, 2016

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• Not so much two ships passing in the night as two ships sailing together for a time but always bound for different ports.

  P. D. James

  Night, Two, Sailing

  P. D. James (2008). “The Lighthouse”, p.276, Faber & Faber

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• Work did bestow dignity, status, meaning. Wasn't that why people dreaded unemployment, why some men found retirement so traumatic?

  P. D. James

  Retirement, People, Unemployment

  P. D. James (2012). “Original Sin”, p.77, Vintage

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• The modern holy trinity is money, sex and celebrity.

  P. D. James

  Sex, Religion, Modern

  P. D. James (2003). “The murder room”, Alfred a Knopf Inc

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• Authors always take rejection badly. They equate it with infanticide.

  P. D. James

  Rejection, Infanticide

  P. D. James (2008). “Original Sin”, p.89, Faber & Faber

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• In youth we take egregious risks because death has no reality for us. Youth goes caparisoned in immortality. It is only in middle age that we are shadowed by the awareness of the transitoriness of life.

  P. D. James

  Reality, Risk, Age

  P. D. James (2011). “Devices and Desires”, p.211, Vintage

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• I don't see why escapist literature shouldn't also be a work of art.

  P. D. James

  Art, Literature, Works Of Art

  P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.28, Faber & Faber

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• The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.

  P. D. James

  Men, Self, World

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.154, Vintage

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• A politician is required to listen to humbug, talk humbug, condone humbug. The most we can hope for is that we don't actually believe it.

  P. D. James

  Believe, Politician, Humbug

  P. D. James (2010). “A Taste for Death”, p.42, Vintage

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• Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft.

  P. D. James

  Raw Materials, Crafts, Increase

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by P. D. James, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• Charm is often despised but I can never see why. No one has it who isn't capable of genuinely liking others, at least at the actual moment of meeting and speaking. Charm is always genuine; it may be superficial but it isn't false.

  P. D. James

  May, Moments, Superficial

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.26, Vintage

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• Any visitor to an historic country town or city quickly becomes aware in his or her peregrinations that the most attractive houses in the centre are invariably the offices of lawyers.

  P. D. James

  Country, Cities, Office

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• We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the obligation of liking our friends.

  P. D. James

  Sarcastic, Funny Friendship, War

  P.D. James (2012). “Shroud for a Nightingale”, p.327, Simon and Schuster

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• But what do you believe? I don't just mean religion. What are you sure of?" "That once I was not and that now I am. That one day I shall no longer be.

  P. D. James

  Believe, Mean, One Day

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.236, Vintage

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• Crime fiction confirms our belief, despite some evidence to the contrary, that we live in a rational, comprehensible, and moral universe.

  P. D. James

  Fiction, Belief, Moral

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• Perfect love may cast our fear, but fear is remarkably potent in casting out love.

  P. D. James

  Fear, Perfect, May

  "Time to Be in Earnest". Book by P. D. James, 1999.

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• Publishers don't nurse you; they buy and sell you.

  P. D. James

  Writing, Nurse, Publishers

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• Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.

  P. D. James

  Eye, Mass Extinction, Light

  P. D. James (2010). “The Children of Men”, p.24, Vintage

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• I love the idea of bringing order out of disorder which is what the mystery is about. I like the way in which it affirms the sanity of human life and exorcises irrational guilts.

  P. D. James

  Order, Ideas, Guilt

  Interview With Jennifer Reese, www.salon.com. February 26, 1998.

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• What was so terrible about grief was not grief itself, but that one got over it.

  P. D. James

  Grief, Terrible, Over It

  P.D. James (2012). “Innocent Blood”, p.368, Simon and Schuster

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• Human kindness is like a defective tap, the first gush may be impressive but the stream soon dries up.

  P. D. James

  Kindness, May, Firsts

  P. D. James (2011). “Devices and Desires”, p.416, Vintage

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• First-class travel, provided one hasn't to pay for it oneself, is the most insidiously addictive of life's luxuries.

  P. D. James

  Class, Luxury, Pay

  P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.234, Faber & Faber

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