Peter Ackroyd Quotes

United Kingdom, Biographer
October 5, 1949

Peter Ackroyd, CBE, FRSL (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charles Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research.

Also known as Novelist, Critic

I never read in bed, only in my study.

Peter Ackroyd
- Study
In 'The Plato Papers' I wanted to get another perspective on the present moment by extrapolating into the distant future. So in that sense, there's a definite similarity of purpose between a book set in the future and a book set in the past.

Peter Ackroyd
- Book
- Future
- Past

None of my books has been ever in my head; after they're finished, they go. It's like being a sort of medium; you just grab it when it's there then just release it when it's time to go. There's a lot of instinct, not planning.

Peter Ackroyd
- Time
- Planning
I detest self-regard. If my work has taught me anything, it is that self-aggrandisement is completely unhistorical.

Peter Ackroyd
- Work
It sometimes seems to me that the whole course of English history was one of accident, confusion, chance and unintended consequences - there's no real pattern.

Peter Ackroyd
- Real
- History
- English
Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There's hardly a spate of years that goes by without violent rioting of one kind or another. They happen so frequently that they are almost part of London's texture.

Peter Ackroyd
I don't believe necessarily the past is in the past. It's eternal, it's all around us.

Peter Ackroyd
- Believe
- Past
London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.

Peter Ackroyd
- Action
- Wish

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.

Peter Ackroyd
- Up
- Work
- Words
People are much more interesting than people realise.

Peter Ackroyd
- People
- Interesting