194 Quotes by Penelope Lively

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

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

I can walk about London and see a society that seems an absolutely revolutionary change from the 1950s, that seems completely and utterly different, and then I can pick up on something where you suddenly see that it's not.

Wars are fought by children. Conceived by their mad demonic elders, and fought by boys.

People die, but money never does.

You have this comet trail of your own lived life, sparks from which arrive in the head all the time, whether you want them or not - life has been lived but it is still all going on, in the mind for better and for worse.

History unravels; circumstances, following their natural inclination, prefer to remain ravelled.

There's a fearful term that's in fashion at the moment - closure. People apparently believe it is desirable and attainable.

the days of our lives vanish utterly, more insubstantial than if they had been invented. Fiction can seem more enduring than reality.