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Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd Quotes

Biographer

Peter Ackroyd is a renowned British biographer known for his in-depth research and vivid storytelling. Born on October 5, 1949, he has been writing about historical figures in Britain since the 1970s, including Thomas More, Charles Dickens, and George Orwell.

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All London People World Book Past Believe Has Beens I Can Imagination Knows

Famous 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.”

Knows Want Believe Song Belief

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“It may seem unfashionable to say so, but historians should seize the imagination as well as the intellect. History is, in a sense, a story, a narrative of adventure and of vision, of character and of incident. It is also a portrait of the great general drama of the human spirit.”

Should Humans Wells May Character Stories Seems Spirit Imagination Vision Adventure Drama Intellect Narrative Historian Portraits Human Spirit Incidents

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Real Sometimes Whole Seems Courses Chance Consequence Patterns Accidents Confusion Unintended Consequences English History

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“It's only recently that we've discovered that the artist's inner self is somehow more important than the public world. I'm happier to create exterior pieces for the world rather than to express something I deeply feel or wish to say.”

World Feels Important Self Artist Wish Pieces Inner Self Exterior

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Book Light Silence Smell London Impression Description Sensations Chapters Gallery Labyrinth Complement Thematic

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“My great fear has always been complete and utter failure. Hence, you see, all the dispossessed people in my fiction, and why I try to earn as much money as I can. It's a defense. I don't enjoy it or do anything with it.”

People Trying I Can Enjoy Fiction Defense

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Has Beens Book Instinct Finished Planning Mediums Release

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Writing Believe Lasts I Believe Magic Type Doctors Instance Blank Psychics Geography I'm Back

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Years Kind Has Beens Happens Age Middle Tradition London Violent Middle Ages Texture Rioting

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Has Beens Play Study Doubt Century Historical Theatre Manifestation No Doubt Sober Presentation Influential Henry V

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Writing Character Forget Finished Tunes Looney Tunes

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“There are two types of people, you see. One type keep their heads straight, and look around as they walk. The others look up - at the tops of houses, at the eaves and the lintels and the roofs, which can tell you when they were built - and I've always done that.”

People Looks Two Done House Walks Type Built Look Up Roof

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“Thomas More's birth was noted by his father upon a blank page at the back of a copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'Historia Regum Britanniae'; for a lawyer John More was remarkably inexact in his references to that natal year, and the date has been moved from 1477 to 1478 and back again.”

Years Has Beens Father Birth Pages Moved Lawyer Copies Blank Back Again Blank Pages Natal

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Should Writing Firsts Play Remember Guy Figures Aim Historical Significant Historical Figure Fawkes

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“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.”

Children Wanted Missing Ambition Disappointment Dancer Fulfilled Pope Missing Out Tap Dancers

Author:Peter Ackroyd

“You don't have to be brought up in a grand house to have a sense of the past, and I truly believe that there are certain people to whom or through whom the territory - the place, the past - speaks.”

People Believe Past Certain House Speak Territory

Book:The Collection

Source: The Collection

About the Author

Born: October 5, 1949
Known for: Biographer
Quotes: 116

Related Topics

London People World Book Past Believe Has Beens I Can Imagination Knows

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

HawksmoorRelated source material

Albion: The Origins of the English ImaginationRelated source material

First LightRelated source material

London: The BiographyRelated source material

The CollectionRelated source material

The House of Doctor DeeRelated source material

Venice: Pure CityRelated source material

Charlie Chaplin: A Brief LifeRelated source material

ChattertonRelated source material

Foundation: The History of EnglandRelated source material

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