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Existentialism is about being a saint without God being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.

Anita Brookner

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Anita Brookner
Age: 87 †
Born: 1928
Born: July 16
Died: 2016
Died: March 10
Art Historian
Novelist
University Teacher
Writer
London
England
Philosophical
Saint
God
Hero
Support
Society
Sanction
Religion
Existentialism
Without
Sanctions

More quotes by Anita Brookner

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I need noise and interruptions and irritation: irritation and discomfort are a great starter. The loneliness of doing it any other way would kill me.
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And without understanding, could each properly love the other?
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I think you always feel braver in another language.
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When you make a break for freedom you don't necessarily find company on the way.
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A man can go from being a lover to being a stranger in three moves flat but a woman under the guise of friendship will engage in acts of duplicity which come to light very much later. There are different species of self-justification.
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To remain pure, a novel has to cast a moral puzzle. Anything else is mere negotiation.
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Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy.
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It is best to marry for purely selfish reasons.
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Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply won't be got rid of.
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For once a thing is known, it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten.
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A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.
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Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has.
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It will be a pity if women in the more conventional mould are to be phased out, for there will never be anyone to go home to.
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You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed.
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Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most people are strategists.
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You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourself. And how much healthier your decisions are once they become entirely selfish.
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Satire is dependent on strong beliefs, and on strong beliefs wounded.
Anita Brookner
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There are moments when you feel free, moments when you have energy, moments when you have hope, but you can't rely on any of these things to see you through. Circumstances do that.
Anita Brookner
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Writing has freed me from the despair of living.
Anita Brookner
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Great writers are the saints for the godless.
Anita Brookner