Welcome to our collection of insightful and thought-provoking quotes by Jeanette Winterson, a celebrated English writer known for her innovative storytelling and profound exploration of themes such as love, identity, and the complexities of human relationships. With a unique blend of poetic language and philosophical depth, Winterson’s words have the power to captivate and inspire readers from all walks of life.
Jeanette Winterson’s literary works, including her acclaimed novels like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Written on the Body, have garnered international acclaim and established her as a prominent voice in contemporary literature. Through her writing, she delves into the intricacies of the human experience, challenging societal norms and exploring the boundaries of love and desire. Her prose is imbued with a rare blend of intelligence, wit, and emotional resonance, offering readers a glimpse into the complexities of the human soul.
Below, you’ll find a curated selection of Jeanette Winterson quotes that span the breadth of her literary career. These quotes serve as windows into her profound insights on life, love, and the human condition, inviting you to ponder, reflect, and perhaps even find solace or inspiration in her words.
With animal behavior, they’re all fine until you introduce some rogue element into the cage, and then they go crazy. Jeanette Winterson
I don’t believe in happy endings. Jeanette Winterson
Quest is at the heart of what I do-the holy grail, and the terror that you’ll never find it, seemed a perfect metaphor for life. Jeanette Winterson
Naked is the best disguise. Jeanette Winterson
Many people feel their outer self isn’t the whole self. Jeanette Winterson
I don’t understand why people talk of art as a luxury when it’s a mind-altering possibility. Jeanette Winterson
I’m not a quitter. Jeanette Winterson
I don’t write for any group. I write to bring about a change in consciousness. Jeanette Winterson
Everything in writing begins with language. Language begins with listening. Jeanette Winterson
The work that lasts over time is the work which still speaks to us when all contemporary interest in that work is extinct. Jeanette Winterson
Creative work is incredibly difficult, and that is where the tests lie. Jeanette Winterson
Always in my books, I like to throw that rogue element into a stable situation and then see what happens. Jeanette Winterson
If we make anything that lasts, it outlives us. Jeanette Winterson
London is a small place, and it is very incestuous. People know where you live. Everybody is sort of on top of each other. Jeanette Winterson
My friends and the people who are close to me know what I am. And that is enough. Jeanette Winterson
Art saved me; it got me through my depression and self-loathing, back to a place of innocence. Jeanette Winterson
Academics love to make theories about a body of work, but each book consumes the writer and is the sum of his or her world. Jeanette Winterson
My books always begin with a sentence and an image – not necessarily connected. Jeanette Winterson
If you continually write and read yourself as a fiction, you can change what’s crushing you. Jeanette Winterson
I wanted to cause trouble, but I know now it stays with you. Jeanette Winterson
The curious are always in some danger. If you are curious you might never come home. Jeanette Winterson
I think we still believe that ambition is for boys. Jeanette Winterson
I am a writer who happens to love women. I am not a lesbian who happens to write. Jeanette Winterson
I think heterosexuality and homosexuality are a kind of psychosis, and the truth is somewhere in the middle. Jeanette Winterson
I don’t read reviews because by then it’s too late – whatever anyone says, the book won’t change. It is written. Jeanette Winterson
I live alone, with cats, books, pictures, fresh vegetables to cook, the garden, the hens to feed. Jeanette Winterson
There are so many separate selves; no one who writes creatively hasn’t felt that. Jeanette Winterson
The truth is that love smashes into your life like an ice floe, and even if your heart is built like the Titanic you go down. Jeanette Winterson
I think people deceive themselves about themselves, particularly as they get older. Jeanette Winterson
I never wanted children. If I’d been deeply in love with a man and he’d wanted children, it would have been difficult. Jeanette Winterson
To create a past that seemed authentic but would be a fiction, you need an invented language. Jeanette Winterson
I wanted to write a new fable and see how many rules you could break. Jeanette Winterson
One room is always enough for one person. Two rooms is not enough for two people. That is one of the conundrums in life. Jeanette Winterson
To me, life, for all its privations, is a luminous thing. You have to risk it. Jeanette Winterson
Confidence and superiority: It’s the usual fundamentalist stuff: I’ve got the truth, and you haven’t. Jeanette Winterson
I think it would be very foolish not to take the irrational seriously. Jeanette Winterson
I never cared about money. Jeanette Winterson
My characters are always on the outside; the spotlight’s not on them. But they do get somewhere. Jeanette Winterson
I am not interested in genres. I am interested in doing the best work I can in whatever medium. Jeanette Winterson
Whether you want to call it God or the mystery of the cosmos doesn’t matter to me. Jeanette Winterson
I hated historical novels with fluttering cloaks. Jeanette Winterson
You never give away your heart; you lend it from time to time. If it were not so, how could we take it back without asking? Jeanette Winterson
What you risk reveals what you value. Jeanette Winterson
When it is time to get to work, I go away completely and don’t do anything except the work. And that can be 16 hours a day. Jeanette Winterson
Ordinary professionalism and 20 years’ experience can accomplish a lot, but it can’t access the hidden places. Jeanette Winterson
I believe in communication; books communicate ideas and make bridges between people. Jeanette Winterson
I didn’t mind being unpopular at school, because everyone else was a heathen. Jeanette Winterson
I hate the word lesbian; it tells you nothing; its only purpose is to inflame. Jeanette Winterson
Life gives you enough hard knocks so it’s unlikely you’ll stay that sure of yourself. Jeanette Winterson
I like to think the price I paid by being open about my private life helped. Jeanette Winterson
However it is debased or misinterpreted, love is a redemptive feature. To focus on one individual so that their desires become superior to yours is a very cleansing experience. Jeanette Winterson
Nobody knows anything about Shakespeare the person. It’s all legend, it is all rumor. Jeanette Winterson
I wanted to invent myself as a fictional character. And I did, and it has caused a great deal of confusion. Jeanette Winterson
Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create. Jeanette Winterson
What’s invisible to us is also crucial for our own well-being. Jeanette Winterson
You play. You win. You play. You lose. You play. Jeanette Winterson
I like to look at how people work together when they are put into stressful situations, when life stops being cozy. Jeanette Winterson
We shall all die, and our lives will be irrelevant then. Jeanette Winterson
Your weak point is the open, vulnerable place where you can always be hurt. Love, in all its aspects, opens the self so fully. Jeanette Winterson
They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it? Jeanette Winterson
It is helpful for a woman artist not to have a husband. Jeanette Winterson
In my subconscious, my books were part of a single emotional journey. Jeanette Winterson
Whatever is powerful to you can be translated into something which will matter to somebody that you will never know. Jeanette Winterson
I had relationships with men as well as women. I wasn’t choosing; I didn’t think I had to. Jeanette Winterson
Anything outside marriage seems like freedom and excitement. Jeanette Winterson