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Maeve Binchy Quotes

Powerful Maeve Binchy for Daily Growth

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Pills, Means, Amount, Heartbeat

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!

- Maeve Binchy

Luck, Why, Turned, Duck

There are no makeovers in my books. The ugly duckling does not become a beautiful swan. She becomes a confident duck able to take charge of her own life and problems.

- Maeve Binchy

Confident, Swan, Charge, Duck

I'm particularly fond of boned chicken breasts with a little garlic under the flesh and cooked in a casserole for 40 minutes with a jar of olives, some cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of olive oil.

- Maeve Binchy

Cherry, Some, Garlic, Cooked

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Revenge, Mind, Vengeance, Plotting

Success is not like a cake that needs to be divided. It's more like a heap of stones - a cairn. If someone is successful, they add a stone to the cairn. It gets very high and can be seen from all over the world. That's how I see it.

- Maeve Binchy

Divided, I See, Very, Heap

The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow. Things aren't as black and white, and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good in things much more easily rather than getting enraged as you used to do when you were young.

- Maeve Binchy

Rather, Mellow, Tolerant, Great Thing

After my hip operation, I had to cut out butter, which I loved, and salt. I no longer eat desserts with lots of cream, and I've cut right back on alcohol.

- Maeve Binchy

Alcohol, Which, Desserts, Operation

I am not a member of Fat Liberation, nor do I think that obesity is healthy. But I do believe that in many ways my life has been a more charmed and happy one because I was always large.

- Maeve Binchy

My Life, Been, I Think, Liberation

I was the big, bossy older sister, full of enthusiasms, mad fantasies, desperate urges to be famous, and anxious to be a saint - a settled sort of saint, not one who might have to suffer or die for her faith.

- Maeve Binchy

Die, Famous, Big, Bossy

Happiness is in our own hearts. I have no regrets of anything in the past. I'm totally cheerful and happy, and I think that a lot of your attitude is not in the circumstances you find yourself in, but in the circumstances you make for yourself.

- Maeve Binchy

Think, In The Past, I Think, Hearts

My family life reads a bit like 'Little House on the Prairie.' I was big sister to Joan, Renee, and brother William, and we grew up in Dalkey, a little town 10 miles outside of Dublin. It was a secure, safe and happy childhood, which was meant to be a disadvantage when it comes to writing stories about family dramas.

- Maeve Binchy

Big, Dublin, Joan, Little Town

When I was teaching Latin in girls' schools before I became a writer, I didn't much like it if parents would come in and say, 'We'll have less of the Ovid and Virgil and more of the grammar, please.' After all, I was the one in charge. That's how I feel about doctors. You should trust them to do their job properly.

- Maeve Binchy

Trust, Before, Became, Latin

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Different World, Butter, Eaten

We have to make our own happiness, and we have to make our own decisions and play the hand that is dealt to us.

- Maeve Binchy

Happiness, Play, Own, Decisions

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Think, Always, I Think, Believed

I thought it must be desperate to be old. To wake up in the morning and remember that you were ancient - and so behave that way. I thought old people were full of aches and pains and horrible illnesses.

- Maeve Binchy

Thought, Old, Desperate, Old People

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Thought, Big, Like, Old People

I am much more understanding of people than I used to be when I was young - people were either villainous or wonderful. They were painted in very bright colours. The bad side of it - and there is a corollary to everything - is that when we get older, we fuss more. I used to despise people who fussed.

- Maeve Binchy

Young, Bad, Very, Corollary

I realized that you didn't have to make self-deprecating remarks or turn yourself into the butt of some unspoken joke. I also discovered that being big didn't deter possible suitors.

- Maeve Binchy

Big, Some, Self-Deprecating, Deter

As a memorial, I'd like a statue. Not of me, but a little modern statue, in marble or bronze, maybe of a bird, in a park where children could play and people going by could see it. On it, I'd just like it to say: 'Maeve Binchy, storyteller' and people could look at the name and remember that they'd seen it somewhere else.

- Maeve Binchy

Play, Somewhere, Maybe, Bronze

I live in Ireland near the sea, only one mile from where I grew up - that's good, since I've known many of my neighbours for between 50-60 years. Gordon and I play chess every day, and we are both equally bad. We play chatty, over-talkative bad bridge with friends every week.

- Maeve Binchy

Play, Week, Bad, Gordon

Most people, once the money started getting bigger, thought we would buy a millionaire's house looking out at the sea - but what would two middle-aged people do that for? We were sensible enough when we got it.

- Maeve Binchy

Thought, Bigger, Buy, Sensible

I wore miniskirts in the days when no fat girls should have, and with total delight.

- Maeve Binchy

Fat, Should, Total, Delight

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Thought, Die, Had, Fade

I'm an escapist kind of writer.

- Maeve Binchy

Kind, Writer, Escapist

I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer.

- Maeve Binchy

Kind, Buy, Am, Escapist

My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour's journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read - it was long before TV, remember!

- Maeve Binchy

TV, Journeys, Half, Train

I have been blessed with friends who do things rather than buy things: friends who will change books at the library, take a bag of your old clothes to a thrift store, bring you cuttings and plant them in a window box, fill the bird feeder in your garden when you can't get out.

- Maeve Binchy

Been, Rather, Buy, Garden

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.

- Maeve Binchy

Which, Brought, Thoroughly, Self-Pity

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