"Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?"
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Quote collection
Tanith Lee quotes (page 1 of 5)
87 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit."
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"She looked, and a scarlet butterfly flew away from her, away down the length of the tower, and then another, another, an unraveling scarf of butterflies like winged blood."
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"Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable."
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"We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests."
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"The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it."
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"I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work."
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"When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it."
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"No one is ever ordinary."
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"I will draw you back to me. You shall see. By a chain of stars."
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"Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these."
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"Never be afraid of a cliché, if it expresses what you wish to say."
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"The so-called Real World. Human misery and sadness. Blind politics and general cruelty."
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"Flat or round, there has always been hate in the world."
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"I just love writing. It's magical, it's somewhere else to go, it's somewhere much more dreadful, somewhere much more exciting. Somewhere I feel I belong, possibly more than in the so-called real world."
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"Genre categories are irrelevant. I dislike them, but I do not have the casting vote."
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"We all have our dreams. May we find them, and God have mercy on us when we do."
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"I never know where I am going, though. That is part of what makes it so wonderful. And after all, who does?"
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"For me, everyone I write of is real. I have little true say in what they want, what they do or end up as (or in). Their acts appall, enchant, disgust or astound me. Their ends fill me with retributive glee, or break my heart. I can only take credit (if I can even take credit for that) in reporting the scenario. This is not a disclaimer. Just a fact."
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"There was no violence, no speed. It moved to the rhythm of an elder dance, putting all the rituals of the world to shame. Black, silver, gold and moon-opal, night and sea, fire, earth, air and water."
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