The pleasure of writing fiction is that you are always spotting some new approach, an alternative way of telling a story and manipulating characters; the novel is such a wonderfully flexible form.
Penelope LivelyRead
All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to me; if I were not able to read, to revisit old favorites and experiment with names new to me, I would be starved - probably too starved to go on writing myself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading is essential for personal nourishment and creativity.
In this quote, Penelope Lively emphasizes the fundamental role that reading plays in her life. She expresses that the act of reading not only satisfies her intellectual curiosity but also fuels her passion for writing; without the ability to explore new books or revisit beloved ones, she feels she would be deprived of the inspiration necessary for her own creative pursuits.
Themes
ReadingImportanceWritingCreativityInspiration
In practice
Example use cases
During a reading workshop, I shared a quote highlighting the importance of literature in nurturing creativity.
More from Penelope Lively
All quotes →In old age, you realise that while you're divided from your youth by decades, you can close your eyes and summon it at will. As a writer it puts one at a distinct advantage.
Penelope LivelyRead
The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky medium, time - and central to the concerns of fiction.
Penelope LivelyRead
Giving presents is one of the most possessive things we do, did you realize that? It's the way we keep a hold on other people. Plant ourselves in their lives.
Penelope LivelyRead
The idea that memory is linear is nonsense. What we have in our heads is a collection of frames. As to time itself-can it be linear when all these snatches of other presents exist at once in your mind? A very elusive and tricky concept, time.
Penelope LivelyRead
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Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves.
Anne FadimanRead
Let ignorance talk as it will, learning has its value.
Jean De La FontaineRead
I think that the failure of newspaper competition in a community is a very serious handicap to the dissemination of the knowledge that the citizens need to participate in a democracy.
Walter CronkiteRead
I tend to be a subscriber to the idea that you have everything you need by the time you're 12 years old to do interesting writing for most of the rest of your life - certainly by the time you're 18.
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There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, and books.
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There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.
Marcel ProustRead