What I need to write well is a combination of heat, light and solitude. A. S. Byatt combinationheatlight Change image and share on social
I'm not very interested in myself. I do have a deep moral belief that you should always look out at other things and not be self-centred. A. S. Byatt beliefcentredeep Change image and share on social
On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. We see types, and occasionally twins, but never doubles. All faces are unique, and this is exhilarating, despite the increasingly plastic similarity of TV stars and actors. A. S. Byatt actorbusedouble share on social
America is full of readers of all different sorts who love books in many different ways, and I keep meeting them. And I think editors should look after them, and make less effort to please people who don't actually like books. A. S. Byatt americabookeditor share on social
I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants. A. S. Byatt antchaosenglish Change image and share on social
I always say I write my own novels and the characters don't take control of me, but in fact, I look at the characters in the early stages and I think, 'What is he or she like,' and they slowly come together and they become the person they are. A. S. Byatt charactercontrolearly share on social
My professional and human obsession is the nature of language, and my best relationships are with other writers. In many ways, I know George Eliot better than I know my husband. A. S. Byatt eliotgeorgehuman Change image and share on social
I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible. A. S. Byatt academiclotperfectly Change image and share on social
I find the attempt to find things out, which scientists are possessed by, to be as human as breathing, or feeding, or sex. And so the science has to be in the novels as science and not just as metaphors. A. S. Byatt attemptbreathefeed share on social