My father was an autodidact. It wasnt a middle-class house. Shopkeepers are aspirant. He paid for me to go to private school. He was denied an education – he had a horrible childhood. He got a place at a grammar school and wasnt allowed to go. – Kate Atkinson
The cult of the individual is killing us. I think Twitter signals the death of western civilisation, but people have been saying that since Demosthenes. – Kate Atkinson
Life is a very orderly thing, but in fiction there is a huge liberation and freedom. I can do what I like. Theres nothing that says I cant write a page of full stops. There is no should involved, although you wouldnt know that from literary reviews and critics. – Kate Atkinson
When Im writing, my neural pathways get blocked. I cant read. I can barely hold a conversation without forgetting words and names. I wish I could wear the same clothes and eat the same food each day. – Kate Atkinson
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. What is so difficult to achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness. – Fred Hoyle, Of Man and Galaxies