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I was brought up among the sort of self-important women who had a husband as one has an alibi.

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
Among
Sort
Women
Self
Important
Alibi
Brought
Husband

More quotes by Anita Brookner

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The self-fulfilled woman is far from reality.
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Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
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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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Life is a pilgrimage and if you don't play by the rules you don't find the Road to Damascus, you find the Crown of Thorns.
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And without understanding, could each properly love the other?
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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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All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don't win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold.
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One loses the capacity to grieve as a child grieves, or to rage as a child rages: hotly, despairingly, with tears of passion. One grows up, one becomes civilized, one learns one's manners, and consequently can no longer manage these two functions - sorrow and anger - adequately.
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A complete woman is probably not a very admirable creature. She is manipulative, uses other people to get her own way, and works within whatever system she is in.
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Death is only a small interruption.
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Problems of human behavior still continue to baffle us, but at least in the Library we have them properly filed.
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Romanticism is not just a mode it literally eats into every life. Women will never get rid of just waiting for the right man.
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Great writers are the saints for the godless.
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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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When you make a break for freedom you don't necessarily find company on the way.
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Writing has freed me from the despair of living.
Anita Brookner
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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.
Anita Brookner
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You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed.
Anita Brookner