Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Barbara Pym

Quote by Barbara Pym

Work

Quartet in Autumn: Picador Classic

This book is a part of the Picador Classic series, which features notable works of literature. The title suggests a narrative that takes place during the autumn season, possibly exploring themes or settings associated with that time of year. more

Author

Barbara Pym
Barbara Pym

Barbara Pym was an English novelist known for her wit, humor, and delicate psychological portraits. Her works often focus on the lives of the middle class and are celebrated for their unique perspective and profound insight into everyday life. more

You May Also Like

“a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude”

“Most inexperienced cooks believe, mistakenly, that a fine cake is less challenging to produce than a fine souffle or mousse. I know, however, that a good cake is like a good marriage: from the outside, it looks ordinary, sometimes unremarkable, yet cut into it, taste it, and you know that it is nothing of the sort. It is the sublime result oflong and patient experience, a confection whose success relies on a profound understanding of compatibilities and tastes; on a respect for measurement, balance, chemistry and heat; on a history of countless errors overcome.”

“The line of gray along the horizon is brighter now, and with the coming light I feel a certainty: that there is, despite our wild imaginings, only one life. The ghostly others, no matter how real they seem, no matter how badly we need them, are phantoms. The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up.”

“Science, my dears, is the systematic dissection of nature, to reduce it to working parts that more or less obey universal laws. Sorcery moves in the opposite direction. It doesn't rend, it repairs. It is synthesis rather than analysis. It builds anew rather than revealing the old. In the hands of someone truly skilled,...it is Art.”