Maeve Binchy quotes

It's like if you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either. (Maeve Binchy)
I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I once tried to write a novel about revenge. It's the only book I didn't finish. I couldn't get into the mind of the person who was plotting vengeance. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I look placid, you see, that's why people think I'm fine. Inside I worry a lot. View quote
Maeve Binchy
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'. You don't wear all your jewellery at once. You're much more believable if you talk in your own voice. View quote
Maeve Binchy
We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds. View quote
Maeve Binchy
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. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I have always believed that life is too short for rows and disagreements. Even if I think I'm right, I would prefer to apologize and remain friends rather than win and be an enemy. View quote
Maeve Binchy
(A) writer, a man I loved and he loved me and we got married and it was great and is still great. He believed I could do anything, just as my parents had believed all those years ago, and I started to write fiction and that took off fine. And he loved Ireland, and the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I often wonder that if I had met Hitler, I reckon I might have found some streak of decency in him. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I write exactly as I speak, so therefore I would not say any writer influenced me at all. (Maeve Binchy)
On my 100th birthday, piloting Gordon and myself into the side of a mountain. View quote
Maeve Binchy
Suddenly they asked me, as only the French would, ‘Madame, what is your philosophy of life?' What a cosmic question, but I had to answer, and answer quickly, because it was live. So I said, in French, ‘I think that you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand. View quote
Maeve Binchy
Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I'm getting better, happier, and nicer as I grow older, so I would be terrific in a couple of hundred years time. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I think you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand. View quote
Maeve Binchy
We're nothing if we're not loved. When you meet somebody who is more important to you than yourself, that has to be the most important thing. View quote
Maeve Binchy
Because I saw my parents relaxing in armchairs and reading and liking it, I thought it was a peaceful grown-up thing to do, and I still think that. View quote
Maeve Binchy
Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look. View quote
Maeve Binchy
You say to yourself: 'What could people, in all these countries, find in my books?' and yet I think we're all the same, anywhere. Everybody is a hero or a dramatic person in their own story if you just know where to look. View quote
Maeve Binchy
In my stories, whenever there's somebody wonderful and charming and bright and intelligent, that's me! (Maeve Binchy)
I have been lucky enough to travel a lot, meet great people in many lands. I have liked almost everyone I met along the way. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I believed that old people never laughed. I thought they sighed a lot and groaned. They walked with sticks, and they didn't like children on bicycles or roller skates or with big dogs. View quote
Maeve Binchy
When I was being brought up, we weren't allowed to wallow in self-pity, which was a thoroughly good thing. We were all fine and healthy because that was what we were told to be. View quote
Maeve Binchy
I've seen a lot of people buy my books and then fall asleep on the plane soon afterwards. View quote
Maeve Binchy