"There are dilettantes in human relationships just as there are, let's say, in politics."

Penelope Fitzgerald Literature See all quotes by Penelope Fitzgerald →

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“Penelope Fitzgerald: Dedicated to Her Life and Work”

“He struggled to keep his temper. It struck him that both Marta and Chiara took advantage of him by attacking him with their ignorance, or call it innocence. A serious thinking adult had no defence against innocence because he was obliged to respect it, whereas the innocent scarcely knows what respect is, or seriousness either.”

“How did she do it?", Julian Barnes, The Guardian, July 26, 2008”

“The Unknown Penelope Fitzgerald", Edmund Gordon,TLS, June 30, 2010”

“Penelope Fitzgerald", by Harriet Harvey-Wood, The Guardian, May 3, 2000.”

“Fitzgerald, Penelope", Britannica Student Encyclopedia .”

Resonant Thoughts

"I think that the audience for poetry has widened in recent years and maybe it's continuing to widen—I hope so. The whole poetry slam phenomenon has created an interest and widened the audience for poe…"

— Nathaniel Mackey

Literature1947

#life

"Suppose your father... walked into this room at the ordinary human pace of walking. And suppose just behind him was his father. How long would we have to wait before the ancestor who enters the now-op…"

— Carl Sagan

Science1934–1996

#justice

"It would be so nice to have the luxury just to laze. So nice not to have to always get up and get dressed for some occasion. Always having to move from here to there, where everything is scheduled and…"

— Benazir Bhutto

Politics1953–2007

#justice

"What's more important for me is the brand name Lucy Aharish. The Arab sector does not pay me a salary. My national identity is that of an Arab-Israeli. I identify with Palestinian suffering, but I am …"

— Lucy Aharish

Journalism1981

#justice