“ It was hard for a man and a woman to be fiends with no under thought or glimpsed prospect of sex. They wanted to be friends. It was almost a matter of principle. She was as intelligent as any Fellow o… A.S. Byatt
“ A beautiful woman, Simone Weil said, seeing herself in the mirror, knows This is I. An ugly woman knows with equal certainty, This is not I. Maud knew this neat division represented an over-simplifica… A.S. Byatt
“ I have always believed I cd diagnose this state of which they regard as as inspired by one pair of black eyes or indifferent blue, one graceful attitude of body or mind, one female history of som… A.S. Byatt
“ Ls the Conjugial Angel stoneThat here he stands with heavy headThe backward-looking pillared deadInert, moss-covered, aIl alone?The Holy Ghost trawls ln the Void,With fleshly Sophy on His HookThe Sons… A.S. Byatt
“ Here George Eliot had progressed through the bookshelves. Roland saw her black silk skirts, her velvet trains, sweeping compressed between the Fathers of the Church, and heard her firm foot ring on me… A.S. Byatt
“ Why do you go cold? He kept his voice gentle. I - I've analysed it. Because I have the sort of good looks I have. People treat you as a kind of ;possession; if you have a certain sort of good looks. N… A.S. Byatt
“ Well, I would hardly say I do write as yet. But I write because I like words. I suppose if I liked stone I might carve. I like words. I like reading. I notice particular words. That sets me off. A.S. Byatt
“ Olive thought she had forgotten what pain could be. She was a railway tunnel in which a battering train had come to a fiery halt. She was a burrow in which a creature had wedged itself and could go ne… A.S. Byatt
“ He always told them the same thing, to begin with. ‘Try to avoid falseness and strain. Write what you really know about. Make it new. Don’t invent melodrama for the sake of it. Don’t try to run, let a… A.S. Byatt
“ All old stories, my cousin, will bear telling and telling again in different ways. What is required is to keep alive, to polish, the simple clean forms of the tale which be there - in this case the a… A.S. Byatt
“ A man is the history of his breaths and thoughts, acts, atoms and wounds, love, indifference and dislike; also of his race and nation, the soil that fed him and his forebears, the stones and sands of… A.S. Byatt
“ Бяха деца на такова време и такава култура, която се отнасяше с недоверие към любовта, влюбването, романтичната любов, романтиката изобщо, и въпреки това, сякаш за да си отмъсти, не спираше да бълва с… A.S. Byatt
“ We two remake our world by naming it / Together, knowing what words mean for us / And for the other for whom current coin / Is cold speech--but we say, the tree, the pool, / And see the fire in the ai… A.S. Byatt
“ Think of me if you will as the Lady of Shalott . . . who chooses to watch diligently the bright colours of her Web - to ply an industrious shuttle - to make - something - to close the Shutters and the… A.S. Byatt
“ The words men used to describe the gods were the words they used for fetters or bonds, things which held the world together, within bounds, preventing the breakout of chaos and disorder. A.S. Byatt
“ She was looking for a husband, partly because she was afraid no one might want her, partly becauseshe couldn't decide what to do with herself until that problem was solved, partly because everyone els… A.S. Byatt
“ She was called Maria. She was a Maria Magdalena who washed away sins, and she was Venus Anadyomene to me, though she was ill-nourished I think since birth, my artist’s eye saw she was puny, though my… A.S. Byatt
“ One of you needs food,' said the Old Woman, 'and three of you need healing.'So the Princess sat down to good soup, and fresh bread, and fruit tart with clotted cream and a mug of sharp cider, and the… A.S. Byatt
