Anita brookner

I never learnt Hebrew because my health was fragile, and it was thought that learning Hebrew would be an added burden. I regret it, because I would like to be able to join in fully. Not that I am a...

I'm not very popular, because they're bleak and they're mournful and all the rest of it and I get censorious reviews. But I'm only writing fiction. I'm not making munitions, so I think it's...

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.

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.

I'm a middle-class, middle-brow novelist. And that's it. It amuses me.

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.

You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed.

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.

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.

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