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Peter Ackroyd Quotes

One can forgive Shakespeare anything, except one’s own bad lines Picture Quote #1

Yet, like the sea and the gallows, London refuses nobody Picture Quote #1

To be insular is to be independent. But it is also to be alone Picture Quote #1

To watch King Lear is to approach the recognition that there is indeed no meaning in life, and that there are limits to human understanding Picture Quote #1

I don’t find myself interesting as a person and the details I find boring, quite frankly. You could sum it up in a few words or sentences really: came from nothing. Self-educated. Luck. Energy. Curiosity. Ambition. That’s it. Nothing at all can illuminate the work as far as I can tell Picture Quote #1

London has always provided the landscape for my imagination. It becomes a character - a living being - within each of my books Picture Quote #1

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I detest self-regard. If my work has taught me anything, it is that self-aggrandisement is completely unhistorical Picture Quote #1

Why should a novelist not also be a historian? To force unnatural divisions within the English language is to work against its capacious and accommodating nature. To expect a writer to produce only novels, or only histories, is equivalent to demanding from a composer that he or she write only string quartets or piano sonatas Picture Quote #1

The English can laugh and at the same time strike you down, without the least compunction. It is the secret of their success as a nation Picture Quote #1

When I was a child I wanted to be Pope. My greatest disappointment is missing out on that. I also wanted to be a tap dancer but I never fulfilled that ambition either Picture Quote #1

There are so many characters whizzing around inside my head, it’s like Looney Tunes. But as soon as I’ve finished writing about them, I completely forget who they are Picture Quote #1

In London, I’ve always lived within 10 miles of where I was born. You see, there is something called a spirit of place, and my place happens to be London, at least once a fortnight Picture Quote #1

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None of my books has been ever in my head; after they’re finished, they go. It’s like being a sort of medium; you just grab it when it’s there then just release it when it’s time to go. There’s a lot of instinct, not planning Picture Quote #1

The English have always been greedy for news of times past, with that mixture of fatalism and melancholy which is part of the national character Picture Quote #1

As a Londoner I was able to see how the world of power and money cast its shadow on those who failed Picture Quote #1

I am in the Pitte, but I have gone so deep that I can see the brightness of the Starres at Noon Picture Quote #1

Familial love can find an echo in our own hearts just as it did in that of Charles Dickens Picture Quote #1

I have always believed that the material world is governed by nonmaterial sources, so that in that sense ‘English Music’ is an exercise in the spiritual as well as the material. I have always been attracted to the Gothic and spiritual imagination, and I’ve always been interested in visionaries Picture Quote #1

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It sometimes seems to me that the whole course of English history was one of accident, confusion, chance and unintended consequences - there’s no real pattern Picture Quote #1

I love soap operas - the stories, the plots! And I love the game shows and the courtroom dramas and the detectives - Jessica Fletcher, ‘Columbo,’ ‘Perry Mason,’ ‘L.A. Law.’ Any sense of guilt appeals to me in a television program - a sense of guilt, or a sense of making a lot of money Picture Quote #1

I don’t believe necessarily the past is in the past. It’s eternal, it’s all around us Picture Quote #1

To watch King Lear is to approach the recognition that there is indeed no meaning in life, and that there are limits to human understanding Picture Quote #1

The embrace of present and past time, in which English antiquarianism becomes a form of alchemy, engenders a strange timelessness. It is as if the little bird which flew through the Anglo-Saxon banqueting hall, in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, gained the outer air and became the lark ascending in Vaughan Williams’s orchestral setting. The unbroken chain is that of English music itself Picture Quote #1

I just wanted to be an ordinary, middle-class person. When I was at Cambridge, I made great efforts to lose the last remnants of my Cockney accent Picture Quote #1

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To be a writer was always my greatest aim. I remember writing a play about Guy Fawkes when I was 10. I suppose it’s significant, at least to me, that my first work should be about a historical figure Picture Quote #1

The 16th-century theatre witnessed the particularly English manifestation of ‘the history play.’ There can be no doubt that Shakespeare’s presentations of ‘Henry V’ and ‘Richard III’ have been incalculably more influential than any more sober historical study Picture Quote #1

Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There’s hardly a spate of years that goes by without violent rioting of one kind or another. They happen so frequently that they are almost part of London’s texture Picture Quote #1

Oh, I just tend to believe in things when I’m writing them. For instance, when I was writing ‘Doctor Dee,’ I believed in magic. And when I wrote ‘Hawksmoor’ I believed in psychic geography. But as soon as I type the last full stop, I’m back to being a complete blank again Picture Quote #1

London’ is a gallery of sensation of impressions. It is a history of London in a thematic rather than a chronological sense with chapters of the history of smells, the history of silence, and the history of light. I have described the book as a labyrinth, and in that sense in complements my description of London itself Picture Quote #1

In so far as I have any beliefs, I suppose I’m like that old Peggy Lee song, ‘Is That All There Is?’ I want to believe there’s something else going on, but what that something else is I don’t pretend to know Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

One can forgive Shakespeare anything, except one’s own bad lines (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) Yet, like the sea and the gallows, London refuses nobody (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) To be insular is to be independent. But it is also to be alone. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) To watch King Lear is to approach the recognition that there is indeed no meaning in life, and that there are limits to human understanding (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I don’t find myself interesting as a person and the details I find boring, quite frankly. You could sum it up in a few words or sentences really: came from nothing. Self-educated. Luck. Energy. Curiosity. Ambition. That’s it. Nothing at all can illuminate the work as far as I can tell (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) London has always provided the landscape for my imagination. It becomes a character - a living being - within each of my books (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I detest self-regard. If my work has taught me anything, it is that self-aggrandisement is completely unhistorical (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) Why should a novelist not also be a historian? To force unnatural divisions within the English language is to work against its capacious and accommodating nature. To expect a writer to produce only novels, or only histories, is equivalent to demanding from a composer that he or she write only string quartets or piano sonatas (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) The English can laugh and at the same time strike you down, without the least compunction. It is the secret of their success as a nation (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) When I was a child I wanted to be Pope. My greatest disappointment is missing out on that. I also wanted to be a tap dancer but I never fulfilled that ambition either (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) There are so many characters whizzing around inside my head, it’s like Looney Tunes. But as soon as I’ve finished writing about them, I completely forget who they are (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) In London, I’ve always lived within 10 miles of where I was born. You see, there is something called a spirit of place, and my place happens to be London, at least once a fortnight (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) None of my books has been ever in my head; after they’re finished, they go. It’s like being a sort of medium; you just grab it when it’s there then just release it when it’s time to go. There’s a lot of instinct, not planning. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) The English have always been greedy for news of times past, with that mixture of fatalism and melancholy which is part of the national character (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) As a Londoner I was able to see how the world of power and money cast its shadow on those who failed (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I am in the Pitte, but I have gone so deep that I can see the brightness of the Starres at Noon (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) Familial love can find an echo in our own hearts just as it did in that of Charles Dickens (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I have always believed that the material world is governed by nonmaterial sources, so that in that sense ‘English Music’ is an exercise in the spiritual as well as the material. I have always been attracted to the Gothic and spiritual imagination, and I’ve always been interested in visionaries (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) It sometimes seems to me that the whole course of English history was one of accident, confusion, chance and unintended consequences - there’s no real pattern. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I love soap operas - the stories, the plots! And I love the game shows and the courtroom dramas and the detectives - Jessica Fletcher, ‘Columbo,’ ‘Perry Mason,’ ‘L.A. Law.’ Any sense of guilt appeals to me in a television program - a sense of guilt, or a sense of making a lot of money. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I don’t believe necessarily the past is in the past. It’s eternal, it’s all around us. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) To watch King Lear is to approach the recognition that there is indeed no meaning in life, and that there are limits to human understanding. (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) The embrace of present and past time, in which English antiquarianism becomes a form of alchemy, engenders a strange timelessness. It is as if the little bird which flew through the Anglo-Saxon banqueting hall, in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, gained the outer air and became the lark ascending in Vaughan Williams’s orchestral setting. The unbroken chain is that of English music itself (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) I just wanted to be an ordinary, middle-class person. When I was at Cambridge, I made great efforts to lose the last remnants of my Cockney accent (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) To be a writer was always my greatest aim. I remember writing a play about Guy Fawkes when I was 10. I suppose it’s significant, at least to me, that my first work should be about a historical figure (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) The 16th-century theatre witnessed the particularly English manifestation of ‘the history play.’ There can be no doubt that Shakespeare’s presentations of ‘Henry V’ and ‘Richard III’ have been incalculably more influential than any more sober historical study (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There’s hardly a spate of years that goes by without violent rioting of one kind or another. They happen so frequently that they are almost part of London’s texture (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) Oh, I just tend to believe in things when I’m writing them. For instance, when I was writing ‘Doctor Dee,’ I believed in magic. And when I wrote ‘Hawksmoor’ I believed in psychic geography. But as soon as I type the last full stop, I’m back to being a complete blank again (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) London’ is a gallery of sensation of impressions. It is a history of London in a thematic rather than a chronological sense with chapters of the history of smells, the history of silence, and the history of light. I have described the book as a labyrinth, and in that sense in complements my description of London itself (Peter Ackroyd Quotes) In so far as I have any beliefs, I suppose I’m like that old Peggy Lee song, ‘Is That All There Is?’ I want to believe there’s something else going on, but what that something else is I don’t pretend to know (Peter Ackroyd Quotes)

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