Ivy Compton-Burnett was born 5 June 1884 and died 27 August 1969.
Seven Quotes
- As regards plot I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots. And as I think a plot desirable and almost necessary, I have this extra grudge against life.
- Magnifying a matter is not the way to mend it.
- A plot is like the bones of a person, not interesting like expression, or signs of experience, but the support of the whole.
- People do not like to lose their lives. That is the reason why they should not take other people’s.
- [On writing:] What a difficult kind of work to choose! But of course one did not choose it. There was no choice.
- Most of the pleasure of making a book would go if it held nothing to be shared by other people. I would write for a few dozen people, and sometimes it seems that I do so, but I would not write for no-one.
- We must use words as they are used, or stand aside from life.
Ivy Compton-Burnett was an English novelist. She won the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel Mother and Son. Her work focuses on family life among the late-Victorian or Edwardian upper middle class.
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