Anita Brookner

“Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.”

“I was brought up to look after my parents. My family were Polish Jews, and we lived with my grandmother, with uncles and aunts and cousins all around, and I thought everybody lived like that.”

“No blame should attach to telling the truth. But it does, it does.”

“Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has.”