Maeve Binchy Quotes
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Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don't put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn't say in real life.
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I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer.
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I write exactly as I speak, so therefore I would not say any writer influenced me at all.
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We have to make our own happiness, and we have to make our own decisions and play the hand that is dealt to us.
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I was very pleased, obviously, to have outsold great writers. But I'm not insane - I do realise that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation.
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I wore miniskirts in the days when no fat girls should have, and with total delight.
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I grew up thinking it was wonderful to be big and strong and to be able to knock down other children in the playground if I needed to. But I never felt the need.
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I used to dream of some kind of way that you could carry a phone with you - but I never thought I would see it in my lifetime. It doesn't matter nowadays if you are caught in traffic or got lost on the way somewhere. You can just send a text and the recipient will know that you haven't fallen under a bus.
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Growing up in Ireland, there never seemed to be the notion that children should be seen and not heard. We all looked forward to mealtimes when we'd sit around the table and talk about our days. Storytelling and long, rambling conversations were considered good things.
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I often wonder that if I had met Hitler, I reckon I might have found some streak of decency in him.
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I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.
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Modern surgery has been like a miracle to those who thought the pain was going to go on forever.
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Of course, I should have done what doctors said and walked for miles every day and not eaten great amounts of butter. But then, life is life, and if we all did what they said we should do, it would be a different world.
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I was lucky enough to be fairly quick at understanding what was taught, but unlucky enough not to be really interested in it, so I always got my exams but never had the scholar's love of learning for its own sake.
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Of course I wanted children. Bright, gorgeous, loving children. I could almost see them.
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I'm getting better, happier, and nicer as I grow older, so I would be terrific in a couple of hundred years time.
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I have an irregular heartbeat, so that means a fair amount of medication - and I have blood pressure pills, too, but no vitamins or supplements.
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I was very pleased, obviously, to have outsold such great writers. But I'm not insane - I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation.
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I'm mainly an airport author, and if you're trying to take your mind off the journey, you're not going to read 'King Lear.'
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If you don't go to a dance, you can never be rejected, but you'll never get to dance, either.
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Never mind money; the gifts of time and skill call into being the richest marketplace in the world.
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I don't say I was 'proceeding down a thoroughfare;' I say I 'walked down the road'. I don't say I 'passed a hallowed institute of learning;' I say I 'passed a school'.
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In my books, there is no 'ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan' syndrome because if you look at the Hansel and Gretel syndrome, it was a mistake. It wasn't a duckling, it was a cygnet, and that's why it turned into a swan. The duckling should with any luck turn into a nice clucking duck and get on with its life. Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!
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I once got a huge, expensive flower arrangement from a person I didn't like, who sent it out of pure guilt. It had a hideous bird-of-paradise in the middle, and I thought it would never fade and die. I hated it.