Every island to a child is a treasure island.
P. D. JamesRead
Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or so we might get a Middlemarch.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great literature requires nurturing and attention to flourish.
This quote by P. D. James suggests that for significant literary works to emerge, they must be cultivated in an environment that values and supports literature. Neglectful or poor conditions yield little creativity and innovation, whereas a dedication to the literary arts can produce timeless masterpieces, akin to 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot, which is regarded as one of the great novels in English literature.
Themes
LiteratureGrowthCareNurturingCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of supporting local writers, one might quote P. D. James to emphasize the need for nurturing literary talent.
More from P. D. James
All quotes →If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
P. D. JamesRead
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
P. D. JamesRead
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
P. D. JamesRead
Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
P. D. JamesRead
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
P. D. JamesRead
Similar quotes
In literature, you know only what you imagine
Carlos FuentesRead
The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.
Oscar WildeRead
My last vivid boyhood fright from books came when I was 15; I was visiting my uncle and aunt in Greenwich, and, emboldened by my success with 'The Waste Land,' I opened their copy of 'Ulysses.' The whiff of death off those remorseless, closely written pages overpowered me. So: back to soluble mysteries, and jokes that were not cosmic.
John UpdikeRead
We can be reluctant to recognize how much of our culture was literary, particularly now that so many of the institutional purveyors of literature happily have joined in proclaiming its death. A substantial number of Americans who believe they worship God actually worship three major literary characters: the Yahweh of the J Writer (earliest author of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers), the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, and Allah of the Koran.
Harold BloomRead
Not very good, I am afraid. But now really, do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?" "The nicest—by which I suppose you mean the neatest. That must depend upon the binding.
Jane AustenRead
So many Indian novels, quite unfairly, do not get the prominence they should because they have been written in a language other than English.
Vikram SethRead