ByQuotes

Penelope Lively Quotes

Powerful Penelope Lively for Daily Growth

About Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively (born July 19, 1933) is an accomplished British novelist, children's writer, and poet, known for her versatile storytelling that spans various genres and age groups. Born in Cairo, Egypt to British parents, she spent much of her childhood in Africa due to her father's job as a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cairo. This multicultural upbringing significantly influenced her writing, imbuing her works with a richly diverse perspective. Lively studied archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, but her passion for literature eventually led her to abandon archaeology in favor of a career as an author. Her debut novel, "The Road to Lichfield" (1977), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, signaling the beginning of a successful literary career. Throughout her prolific writing life, she has produced several notable works, including the Carnegie Medal-winning children's book "Moon Tiger" (1987) and the Booker Prize-winning novel "Moonlight on a Rainy Night" (1984). Lively's work often explores themes of memory, identity, and the passage of time. In 2012, she was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for her contributions to literature. Today, Penelope Lively continues to write, captivating readers with her evocative prose and thought-provoking narratives. Her works are a testament to her enduring talent and lasting influence on contemporary British literature.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"A library is a place where you can lose yourself, spend time with old friends, meet new ones and discover whole worlds."

This quote by Penelope Lively beautifully encapsulates the essence of a library as a haven for exploration, connection, and discovery. It suggests that a library provides an environment where one can immerse themselves in the company of familiar books, rekindling old friendships with them. Simultaneously, it offers opportunities to encounter new literary companions, broadening our horizons and introducing us to unexplored realms. Essentially, Lively's quote articulates that a library is more than just a collection of books – it's a gateway to knowledge, personal growth, and the infinite world of human imagination and experience.

"The past is not a place to which we travel. It is a place from which we carry forward moments of wisdom or affection."

This quote by Penelope Lively suggests that the past is not an actual location to be physically visited, but rather a reservoir of experiences, lessons, and emotions that we carry with us as we move forward in life. The wisdom and affection that we gather from our past, whether personal or historical, are valuable resources that shape who we become and guide our actions in the present and future. Essentially, we transport the essence of the past within us as a source of growth and understanding.

"We live in the present, dream in the future, but it's the past that shapes us most."

This quote underscores the profound influence of our past experiences on our personal development and identity. While we navigate through life in the present and envision possibilities for the future, it is the cumulative effects of our past - the lessons learned, the relationships formed, the challenges faced - that ultimately shape us into who we are today. Understanding and embracing this truth can help us gain wisdom, resilience, and a deeper sense of self-awareness as we continue on our journey through time.

"Books are quiet companions; they keep no secrets, demand nothing, judge no, interfere with nobody."

This quote emphasizes the peaceful, low-maintenance nature of books as companions. Unlike people or pets, books don't require conversation, won't betray confidences, make demands, pass judgment, or intrude upon personal matters. Books provide solace, knowledge, entertainment, and a gateway to diverse worlds and perspectives without imposing any obligations or expectations. Essentially, they are reliable friends who enrich our lives silently, offering endless possibilities for exploration.

"In reading, as in life, we are alone together."

This quote emphasizes the shared yet individual experience of reading. While we may read the same book, each person interprets it differently based on their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The act of reading is a solitary endeavor, but the connection between the author and reader, as well as the potential discussions and shared emotions with other readers, make us feel connected despite our isolation. It's an affirmation that even in solitude, we can find shared understanding and empathy with others through literature.

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

- Penelope Lively

Character, Like, Firmly, Fictional

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life; things happen differently for a beautiful woman than for a plain one.

- Penelope Lively

Woman, Happen, Which, Intrigued

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to suit the perceptions of the present.

- Penelope Lively

Past, Equally, Frequently, Perceptions

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 Lively

Past, Fiction, Medium, Hardly

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.

- Penelope Lively

Importance, Favorites, Would, Revisit

Since then, I have just read and read - but, that said, I suppose there is a raft of writers to whom I return again and again, not so much because I want to write like them, even if I were capable of it, but simply for a sort of stylistic shot in the arm.

- Penelope Lively

Capable, Shot, Raft, Arm

It seems to me that everything that happens to us is a disconcerting mix of choice and contingency.

- Penelope Lively

Me, Disconcerting, Mix

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I used to do much tramping of the English landscape in search of ancient field systems, drove roads, indications of prehistoric settlement.

- Penelope Lively

Younger, Been, Robust, Settlement

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the present: the time bomb in the cupboard.

- Penelope Lively

Past, Photograph, Time Bomb, Interfere

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the social change over the century as a historian, but as somebody who's walked through it and whose life has been dictated by it too, as all our lives are.

- Penelope Lively

Through, Been, Wanting, Dictated

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I wanted a structure whereby each of the main characters contributed a distinctive version of the story.

- Penelope Lively

Book, Narrative, Allow, Forms

I'm now an agnostic but I grew up on the King James version, which I'm eternally grateful for.

- Penelope Lively

Grateful, King, Which, Agnostic

I have had to empty two family homes during the last few years - first, the house that had been my grandmother's since 1923, and then my own country home, which we had lived in for over twenty years.

- Penelope Lively

Country, Own, Been, Twenty

I'm not an historian but I can get interested - obsessively interested - with any aspect of the past, whether it's palaeontology or archaeology or the very recent past.

- Penelope Lively

Past, Very, Historian, Recent

The consideration of change over the century is about loss, though I think that social change is gain rather than loss.

- Penelope Lively

Think, Over, I Think, Consideration

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 Lively

New, Some, Always, Flexible

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had, and the feeling that I'd just have a go and see if I could do it.

- Penelope Lively

Always, Could, Which, If I Could

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it is not linear but fragmented, and its ambivalence.

- Penelope Lively

Always, Been, Which, Fragmented

We read Greek and Norse mythology until it came out of our ears. And the Bible.

- Penelope Lively

Bible, Ears, Greek, Mythology

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.

- Penelope Lively

Change, London, About, Revolutionary

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest in history.

- Penelope Lively

Memory, Interest, Rather, Operation

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

- Penelope Lively

Choices, Constantly, Make, Happenstance

Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

- Penelope Lively

Own, Going, Get, Climate

I'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may be something more like this again, maybe some strange mixture of fiction and non-fiction.

- Penelope Lively

Some, May, Which, Mixture

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

- Penelope Lively

Deep, Country, Should, Deep Down

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.

- Penelope Lively

Someone, Getting, Involves, Curiosity

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

- Penelope Lively

Past, Need, Where, Identity

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.