Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey Quotes

United States, Journalist
August 31, 1938

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey is an American journalist and playwright. She studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and received her Bachelor's Degree from Hollins College, now Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia in 1960. In the same year she married Oliver Hailey, a playwright and the father of her daughters. She worked briefly in journalism and publishing before joining her husband in writing for film and television. They served as creative consultants for the popular television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Also known as Playwright

We are all so much more complicated than we allow ourselves to appear.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Complicated
- Allow
Life causes estrangement enough—why do we add to it out of misplaced pride?

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Life
- Pride
- Estrangement

Sometimes being a good mother gets in the way of being a good person.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Life
- Time
- Lose
Would that we could soar forever beyond the reach of earth, away from the dangers that await us the moment we alight.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Reach
- Dangers
Sometimes I think it is ... frustration with life as it is lived day to day that compels me to write such long letters to people who seldom reply in kind, if indeed they reply at all. Somehow by compressing and editing the events of my life, I infuse them with a dramatic intensity totally lacking at the time, but oddly enough I find that years later what I remember is not the event as I lived it but as I described it in a letter.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
There is nothing like champagne to ensure sweet dreams.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Dreams
- Champagne
Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into other lives, and I come back to my own with greater contentment.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

But a piece of paper can be a powerful presence. I have always had enormous respect for the written word and invariably find a letter more revealing than a face-to-face conversation. In a strange way I suspect I will get to know you better at a distance than I would if you had stayed at home.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Respect
- Distance
- Strange
Whenever life gets to be too much for me, I have a hard time keeping my eyes open. Sleeping is cheaper and safer than drinking. It keeps you from saying or doing things you'll regret later, and though you may have nightmares, you won't wake up with a hangover. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
- Life
- Eyes
- Sleeping