P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL, known as P. D. James, was an English crime writer. She rose to fame for her series of detective novels starring police commander and poet Adam Dalgliesh...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth3 August 1920
P. D. James quotes about
confusing identity senses
Absolute nakedness was intrusive, confusing to the senses. Paradoxically, it both revealed and diminished identity.
writing thinking needs
Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.
life memories fall
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
night two sailing
Not so much two ships passing in the night as two ships sailing together for a time but always bound for different ports.
country cities office
Any visitor to an historic country town or city quickly becomes aware in his or her peregrinations that the most attractive houses in the centre are invariably the offices of lawyers.
moments eternal-life eternal
We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.
children islands treasure
Every island to a child is a treasure island.
dream writing style
Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.
eye writing voice
Learn to write by doing it. Read widely and wisely. Increase your word power. Find your own individual voice though practicing constantly. Go through the world with your eyes and ears open and learn to express that experience in words.
war believe political
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
eye mass-extinction light
Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.
life pain broken
Feel, he told himself, feel, feel, feel. Even if what you feel is pain, only let yourself feel.
sex would-be world
If our sex life were determined by our first youthful experiments, most of the world would be doomed to celibacy. In no area of human experience are human beings more convinced that something better can be had only if they persevere.
children parenting happy-kid
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.