Quote

I worry about anthropomorphism as a form of self-deception. (The Christian religion is an anthropomorphic account of the universe.)

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
Accounts
Worry
Religion
Christian
Universe
Anthropomorphism
Form
Anthropomorphic
Self
Deception
Account

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Good writing is always new.
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A beautiful woman, Simone Weil said, seeing herself in the mirror, knows This is I. An ugly woman knows with equal certainty, This is not I. Maud knew this neat division represented an over-simplification. The doll-mask she saw had nothing to do with her, nothing.
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Narrative is one of the best intoxicants or tranquilisers.
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Novels arise out of the shortcomings of History.
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Biographies are no longer written to explain or explore the greatness of the great. They redress balances, explore secret weaknesses, demolish legends.
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I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.
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I watch a lot of sport on television. I only watch certain sports, and I only watch them live - I don't think I've ever been able to watch a replay of a match or game of which the result was already decided. I feel bound to cheat and look up what can be looked up.
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What literature can and should do is change the people who teach the people who don't read the books.
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Once you get older, people stop listening to what you say. It's very agreeable once you get used to it.
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Funny way to spend your life, though, studying another chap's versifying.
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