P. D. James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL, known as P. D. James, was an English crime writer. She rose to fame for her series of detective novels starring police commander and poet Adam Dalgliesh...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth3 August 1920
writing world language
We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.
writing bad-writing discrimination
Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.
writing scientist there-comes-a-time
There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment.
writing order appreciate
read widely, not in order to copy someone else's style, but to learn to appreciate and recognize good writing and to see how the best writers have achieved their result. Poor writing is, unfortunately, infectious and should be avoided.
regret writing men
I am fifty years old and I have never known what it is to love. I can write those words, know them to be true, but feel only the regret that a tone-deaf man must feel because he can't appreicate music, a regret less keen because it is for something never known, not for something lost.
writing nurse publishers
Publishers don't nurse you; they buy and sell you.
eye writing voice
Learn to write by doing it. Read widely and wisely. Increase your word power. Find your own individual voice though practicing constantly. Go through the world with your eyes and ears open and learn to express that experience in words.
dream writing style
Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.
writing thinking needs
Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.
new-experiences people mind
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.
gives god throw
God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest.
alzheimers tragedy disease
The great tragedy of Alzheimer's disease, and the reason why we dread it, is that it leaves us with no defence, not even against those who love us.
kindness may firsts
Human kindness is like a defective tap, the first gush may be impressive but the stream soon dries up.
couple unhappy proud
There are few couples as unhappy as those who are too proud to admit their unhappiness.