Peter Ackroyd Quotations

The endless chatter of this journey had wearied me.

London has always provided the landscape for my imagination. It becomes a character - a living being - within each of my books.

People are much more interesting than people realise.

The English have always been greedy for news of times past, with that mixture of fatalism and melancholy which is part of the national character.

There are certain people who seem doomed to buy certain houses. The house expects them. It waits for them.

To watch King Lear is to approach the recognition that there is indeed no meaning in life, and that there are limits to human understanding.

All cities are impressive in their way, because they represent the aspiration of men to lead a common life; those people who wish to live agreeable lives, and in constant intercourse with one another, will build a city as beautiful as Paris.

Health, money. That's what people worried about in the 14th century as much as today. I find it so much more interesting than the supposed activities of kings, queens, generals.

I don't find myself interesting as a person and the details I find boring, quite frankly. You could sum it up in a few words or sentences really: came from nothing. Self-educated. Luck. Energy. Curiosity. Ambition. That's it. Nothing at all can illuminate the work as far as I can tell.

I don't know if I have a voice of my own. I don't see me being an important person with something to say. I haven't. I've got nothing to say. My opinion is of no consequence or value.