What captivity has been to the Jews, exile has been to the Irish. For us, the romance of our native land begins only after we have left home; it is really only with other people that we become Irishmen. Peter Ackroyd More Quotes by Peter Ackroyd More Quotes From Peter Ackroyd The world is a sea in which we all must surely drown. Peter Ackroyd sea world The endless chatter of this journey had wearied me. Peter Ackroyd chatter endless journey I have liv'd long enough for others, like the Dog in the Wheel, and it is now the Season to begin for myself: I cannot change that Thing call'd Time, but I can alter its Posture and, as Boys do turn a looking-glass against the Sunne, so I will dazzle you all. Peter Ackroyd glasses dog boys I love soap operas - the stories, the plots! And I love the game shows and the courtroom dramas and the detectives - Jessica Fletcher, 'Columbo,' 'Perry Mason,' 'L.A. Law.' Any sense of guilt appeals to me in a television program - a sense of guilt, or a sense of making a lot of money. Peter Ackroyd law games drama The best years are when you know what you're doing. Peter Ackroyd best-year knows years I can remember picking up weighty tomes on the history of science and the history of philosophy and reading those when I was small. Peter Ackroyd reading remember philosophy I think biography can be more personal than fiction, and certainly can be more expressive. Peter Ackroyd biographies fiction thinking I just wanted to be an ordinary, middle-class person. When I was at Cambridge I made great efforts to lose the last remnants of my cockney accent. Peter Ackroyd effort ordinary class Familial love can find an echo in our own hearts just as it did in that of Charles Dickens. Peter Ackroyd dickens echoes heart 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. Peter Ackroyd pages father years I had to paraphrase the paraphrase. Peter Ackroyd paraphrase A triptych in which the presiding deities are Mother, England and Me. Peter Ackroyd deities england mother 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. Peter Ackroyd disappointment ambition children London is a labyrinth, half of stone and half of flesh. Peter Ackroyd labyrinth half flesh Only those with great ambitions know what great fears drive them forward. Peter Ackroyd great-ambition ambition knows One can forgive Shakespeare anything, except one's own bad lines. Peter Ackroyd forgiving lines The English can laugh and at the same time strike you down, without the least compunction. It is the secret of their success as a nation. Peter Ackroyd strikes secret laughing Is it possible to be nostalgic about old fears? Peter Ackroyd nostalgic 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. Peter Ackroyd house two people 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. Peter Ackroyd tunes writing character
