A. s. byatt

I'd like to write the way Matisse paints.

I have a dreadful fear that the more you try to prevent revealing the self, the more you do.

I like feeling my way into different minds and experiences. It comes naturally and always has.

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.

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.

I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful.

I think there are a lot more important things than art in the world. But not to me.

I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.

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.

I acquired a hunger for fairy tales in the dark days of blackout and blitz in the Second World War.