I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful. A. S. Byatt absenceillpart Change image and share on social
I have a dreadful fear that the more you try to prevent revealing the self, the more you do. A. S. Byatt dreadfulfearprevent Change image and share on social
Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends. A. S. Byatt beginningbeingend Change image and share on social
You learn different things through fiction. Historians are always making a plot about how certain things came to happen. Whereas a novelist looks at tiny little things and builds up a sort of map, like a painting, so that you see the shapes of things. A. S. Byatt buildfictionhappen share on social
The true exercise of freedom is - cannily and wisely and with grace - to move inside what space confines - and not seek to know what lies beyond and cannot be touched or tasted. A. S. Byatt cannilyconfineexercise Change image and share on social
Where would we be without inhibitions? They're quite useful things when you look at some of the things humans do if they lose them. A. S. Byatt humaninhibitionlose Change image and share on social
Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs. A. S. Byatt attentionbelieffinally Change image and share on social
There are things I take sides about, like capital punishment, which it seems to me there is only one side about: it is evil. But there are two or three sides to sexual harassment, and the moment you get into particular cases, there is injustice in every conceivable direction. It's a mess. A. S. Byatt capitalcaseconceivable share on social
Reading a newspaper is like reading someone's letters, as opposed to a biography or a history. The writer really does not know what will happen. A novelist needs to feel what that is like. A. S. Byatt biographyfeelhappen Change image and share on social
In my mind's eye, Shakespeare is a huge, hot sea-beast, with fire in his veins and ice on his claws and inscrutable eyes, who looks like an inchoate hump under the encrustations of live barnacle-commentaries, limpets and trailing weeds. A. S. Byatt barnaclebeastclaw share on social