Every island to a child is a treasure island.
P. D. JamesRead
Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or so we might get a Middlemarch.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great literature requires nurturing and attention to flourish.
This quote by P. D. James suggests that for significant literary works to emerge, they must be cultivated in an environment that values and supports literature. Neglectful or poor conditions yield little creativity and innovation, whereas a dedication to the literary arts can produce timeless masterpieces, akin to 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot, which is regarded as one of the great novels in English literature.
Themes
LiteratureGrowthCareNurturingCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of supporting local writers, one might quote P. D. James to emphasize the need for nurturing literary talent.
More from P. D. James
All quotes →If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
P. D. JamesRead
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
P. D. JamesRead
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
P. D. JamesRead
Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
P. D. JamesRead
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
P. D. JamesRead
Similar quotes
I’ve always believed that as an author, I do 50% of the work of storytelling, and the reader does the other 50%. There’s no way I can control the story you tell yourself from my book. Your own experiences, preferences, prejudices, mood at the moment, current events in your life, needs and wants influence how you read my every word.
Shannon HaleRead
There rise authors now and then, who seem proof against the mutability of language, because they have rooted themselves in the unchanging principles of human nature.
Washington IrvingRead
The myth that everyone once read great literature is just a myth.
Margaret AtwoodRead
I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.
Naomi Shihab NyeRead
Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.
HomerRead
There's a thriving field of self-published stuff in, particularly, black fiction. I don't know that other groups of people of color have that same recourse.
N. K. JemisinRead