Home / Authors / P. D. James

P. D. James Quotes

Member of the House of Lords

P. D. James, born on August 3, 1920 and died on November 27, 2014, was a distinguished member of the House of Lords. She was a highly acclaimed author of detective fiction, recognized for her intricate plots and complex characters.

Filter quotes by topic

All Ifs People May Humans Writing World Knows Men Wells Believe Form Way Children Want Childhood Fiction Human Beings Moments Order Past

Famous P. D. James Quotes

“The world is full of people who have lost faith: politicians who have lost faith in politics, social workers who have lost faith in social work, schoolteachers who have lost faith in teaching and, for all I know, policemen who have lost faith in policing and poets who have lost faith in poetry. It's a condition of faith that it gets lost from time to time, or at least mislaid.”

People Knows World Faith Lost Social Teaching Conditions Poet Politician Workers Social Work Policemen Social Worker Lost Faith

Book:A Taste for Death

Source: A Taste for Death

“All these problems [deciding cases] are easier for people who believe in God. Those of us who don't or can't have to do the best we can. That's what the law is, the best we can do. Human justice is imperfect, but it's the only justice we have.”

People Believe Humans Problem Law Can Do Justice Cases Easier Believe In God Imperfect Do The Best

Author:P. D. James

“Work did bestow dignity, status, meaning. Wasn't that why people dreaded unemployment, why some men found retirement so traumatic?”

People Men Found Dignity Retirement Unemployment

Book:Original Sin

Source: Original Sin

“No government can act in advance of the moral will of the people.”

People Government Moral

Book:The Children of Men

Source: The Children of Men

“I thought of inviting you to my other club but you know how it is. Lunching there is a useful way of reminding people that you're still alive, but the members will come up and congratulate you on the fact.”

People Knows Way Stills Facts Know How Alive Members Come Up Clubs Reminding Inviting

Book:Original Sin

Source: Original Sin

“You never forget the people who were kind to you in childhood, do you, sir?”

People Kind Forget Childhood Never Forget

Book:The Lighthouse

Source: The Lighthouse

“Daniel supposed he had a secret life. Most people did; it was hardly possible to live without one.”

People Secret Secret Life

Author:P. D. James

“Perhaps it's only when people are dead that we can safely show how much we cared about them. We know that it's too late then for them to do anything about it.”

People Knows Shows Late Too Late

Author:P. D. James

“I wonder if childhood is ever really happy. Just as well, perhaps. To be blissfully happy so young would leave one always seeking to recapture the unobtainable. Like those people who were always happiest at school or university. Always going back. No reunion ever missed. It always seemed to me rather pathetic.”

People Ifs Wells School Young Wonder Childhood University Seeking Pathetic Really Happy Reunion

Author:P. D. James

“People were excited by violence. What, after all, was the sexual act but a voluntarily endured assault, a momentary death?”

People Violence Excited Assault Momentary

Book:Innocent Blood

Source: Innocent Blood

“Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.”

People Mind Happens Study Tragic New Experiences

Author:P. D. James

“Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not governments. When governments are generous it is with other people’s money, other people’s safety, other people’s future.”

People Government Individual Virtue Safety Generosity Generous

Book:The Children of Men

Source: The Children of Men

“In 1930s mysteries, all sorts of motives were credible which aren't credible today, especially motives of preventing guilty sexual secrets from coming out. Nowadays, people sell their guilty sexual secrets.”

People Today Secret Mystery Sells Guilty Motive Coming Out Preventing 1930s Credible

Author:P. D. James

About the Author

Born: August 3, 1920
Died: November 27, 2014
Known for: Member of the House of Lords
Quotes: 126

Books & Sources

The Children of MenRelated source material

Time to Be in EarnestRelated source material

A Taste for DeathRelated source material

Devices and DesiresRelated source material

Original SinRelated source material

The LighthouseRelated source material

Innocent BloodRelated source material

P. D. James’s Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries: Cover Her Face, A Mind to Murder, Unnatural Causes, Shroud for a Nightingale, The Black Tower, and Death of an Expert WitnessRelated source material

The Skull Beneath the Skin: A Cordelia Gray MysteryRelated source material

Trilogy of Death: Three Complete NovelsRelated source material

Similar Authors

Stephen KingBrowse related quotes
Gloria SteinemBrowse related quotes
Ursula K. Le GuinBrowse related quotes
Margaret AtwoodBrowse related quotes
George SaundersBrowse related quotes
Neil GaimanBrowse related quotes
Joyce Carol OatesBrowse related quotes
Virginia WoolfBrowse related quotes
Elie WieselBrowse related quotes
Salman RushdieBrowse related quotes