Anita Brookner

Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most people are strategists. 

What is interesting about self-analysis is that it leads nowhere-it is an art form in itself.

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.

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

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.

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

Like many rich men, he thought in anecdotes; like many simple women, she thought in terms of biography.

Romanticism is not just a mode; it literally eats into every life. Women will never get rid of just waiting for the right man.

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

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.