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Art does not exist for politics, or for instruction- it exists primarily for pleasure, or it is nothing.

A. S. Byatt

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A. S. Byatt
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: August 24
Literary Critic
Novelist
Poet
University Teacher
Writer
Sheffield
England
Dame Antonia Susan Duffy
Antonia Susan Drabble
Antonia Susan Duffy
Instruction
Exists
Exist
Politics
Pleasure
Art
Doe
Nothing
Primarily

More quotes by A. S. Byatt

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…words have been all my life, all my life--this need is like the Spider's need who carries before her a huge Burden of Silk which she must spin out--the silk is her life, her home, her safety--her food and drink too--and if it is attacked or pulled down, why, what can she do but make more, spin afresh, design anew….
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…my Solitude is my Treasure, the best thing I have.
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I think there are a lot more important things than art in the world. But not to me.
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Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.
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Independent women must expect more of themselves, since neither men nor other more conventionally domesticated women will hope for anything, or expect any result other than utter failure.
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I cannot bear not to know the end of a tale. I will read the most trivial things – once commenced – only out of a feverish greed to be able to swallow the ending – sweet or sour – and to be done with what I need never have embarked on. Are you in my case? Or are you a more discriminating reader? Do you lay aside the unprofitable?
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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.
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I think vestigially there's a synesthete in me but not like a real one who immediately knows what colour Wednesday is.
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I don't like gurus. I don't like people who ask you to follow or believe. I like people who ask you to think independently.
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Narration is as much a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood.
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No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.
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I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won't be complete women. I don't think my daughters' generation has that feeling.
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I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.
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You are safe with me. I am not at all safe, with you. But I have no desire to be elsewhere.
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I was no good at being a child.
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Cyclists. I really hate them. I wish they would not be so self-righteous and realise they are a danger to pedestrians. I wish cyclists would not vindictively snap off wing mirrors on cars when they were trying to cross in front of the car at a danger to motorists and pedestrians.
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One does not remember the winners. One remains haunted by the losers.
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There is a certain aesthetic pleasure in trying to imagine the unimaginable and failing, if you are a reader.
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Harm can come about without will or action. But will and action can avert harm.
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I don't only write about English literature I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.
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