Anita Brookner
Anita Brookner
Anita Brookner, CBEwas a British award-winning novelist and art historian. She was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge from 1967 to 1968 and was the first woman to hold this visiting professorship. She was awarded the 1984 Man Booker Prize for her novel Hotel du Lac...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth16 July 1938
interruptions
Death is only a small interruption.
lonely passion animal
I am not a romantic. I am a domestic animal. I do not sigh and yearn for extravagant displays of passion, for the grand affair, the world well lost for love. I know all that, and know that it leaves you lonely. No, what I crave is the simplicity of routine. An evening walk, arm in arm, in fine weather. A game of cards. Time for idle talk. Preparing a meal together.
selfish reason selfish-reasons
It is best to marry for purely selfish reasons.
strong belief satire
Satire is dependent on strong beliefs, and on strong beliefs wounded.
monday morning writing
The evening passes somehow; I watch television with Nancy, or I write. It is difficult, not having a family, and it is difficult to explain. I always go to bed early. And I am always ready for Monday morning, that time that other people dread.
wicked fiction moral
Fiction is the great repository of the moral sense. The wicked get punished.
liars lying men
A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.
women thinking good-woman
Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything.
past times-past age
I am 46, and have been for some time past.
thinking language feels
I think you always feel braver in another language.
husband self important
I was brought up among the sort of self-important women who had a husband as one has an alibi.
way break company
When you make a break for freedom you don't necessarily find company on the way.
betrayal people sunbeams
You can never betray the people who are dead.
selfish ideas decision
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.