A lot of people stop short. They don't actually die but they say, 'Right I'm old, and I'm going to retire,' and then they dwindle into nothing. They go off to Florida and become jolly boring.
- Mary Wesley
Die, Florida, Going, Retire
Imagination which comes into play in falling in love is different from any other. Certainly in my case, and I've fallen in love all my life, one imagines the person to be as you want them to be. They frequently turn out to be someone different, for better or worse.
- Mary Wesley
Love, My Life, Play, Love Is
My father was a soldier and my mother was a great mover. She once counted up how many places she had lived in during the first 25 years of her marriage and it came to 20.
- Mary Wesley
Father, Had, Many, Counted
It seemed sensible to move to a market town where I could walk everywhere.
- Mary Wesley
Market, Town, Move, Sensible
They may turn out to be a great disappointment, or perhaps they may be full of enchanting surprises.
- Mary Wesley
Disappointment, Enchanting, Surprises
I have a garden, and I'm passionately interested in young people.
- Mary Wesley
Young People, Passionately, Garden
Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.
- Mary Wesley
Game, Never, How, Manage
Women's courage is rather different from men's. The fact that women have to bring up children and look after husbands makes them braver at facing long-term issues, such as illness. Men are more immediately courageous. Lots of people are brave in battle.
- Mary Wesley
Fact, Bring, Rather, Braver
We're all like children. We may think we grow up, but to me, being grown up is death, stopping thinking, trying to find out things, going on learning.
- Mary Wesley
Grow, Think, May, Stopping
Unimaginative people are spared quite a lot. They're often much happier, because they don't go through all the variety of conceptions of the person they love.
- Mary Wesley
Love, Go, Through, Unimaginative
Twenty years ago, I was living in a lovely cottage on the edge of Dartmoor but I couldn't afford to run a car.
- Mary Wesley
Lovely, Run, Living, Twenty
You know what it's like to persuade a pigheaded child to do something they don't want to. If they hear the same suggestion from someone else, they'll go right off and do it.
- Mary Wesley
Want, Go, Like, Suggestion
People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier.
- Mary Wesley
Work, Fifty, Less, Divorce
I remember the evacuee children from towns and cities throwing stones at the farm animals. When we explained that if you did that you wouldn't have any milk, meat or eggs, they soon learned to respect the animals.
- Mary Wesley
I Remember, Eggs, Cities, Farm
I always read that men don't like intelligent girls, but I've always found the reverse.
- Mary Wesley
Always, Found, Read, Reverse
In my eighties, my best friends are in their fifties, and I have many friends at university. It keeps one young, and up with the vocabulary. That's terribly important, especially for a writer.
- Mary Wesley
Best, Young, University, Keeps
That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.
- Mary Wesley
Image, Still, Threatening, Countryside
Writing Part of the Scenery has been a very different experience. I have been reminded of people and events, real and imaginary which have been part of my life. This book is a celebration of the land which means so much to me.
- Mary Wesley
My Life, Been, Very, Reminded
My first husband would never make up his mind in less than five years, so I used to get him to think that whatever course of action needed to be taken was his idea. Then he'd go right ahead.
- Mary Wesley
Ahead, Idea, Needed, Make Up
Each marriage has to be judged separately, and we never know what's going on in another person's marriage.
- Mary Wesley
Never, Going, Separately, Judged
It was pretty awful for us children because we never really knew the local children. Mother was keen for us to learn languages, so our travels took us to France and Italy, as well as the West Country.
- Mary Wesley
Country, Pretty, Took, Keen
I found out only recently that we were making an index of enemy code signs.
- Mary Wesley
Making, Found, Code, Recently
Of course risk-taking does not always pay off, but it's a lot of fun!
- Mary Wesley
Always, Lot, Does, Risk-Taking
I was sent to a finishing school, which didn't last long when mother found out how badly chaperoned we were. Then I 'came out' before going to a domestic science school.
- Mary Wesley
Last, Which, Badly, Sent
I never really know the title of a book until it's finished.
- Mary Wesley
Book, Never, Know, Title
I have deliberately left Sylvester and Julia's appearances to the reader's imagination.
- Mary Wesley
Appearances, Deliberately, Julia
Looking back, I understand that I was teaching myself to write.
- Mary Wesley
Myself, Looking Back, Back, Teaching
We all lie to each other, present some sort of front.
- Mary Wesley
Some, Other, Sort, Lie
I don't write for any particular kind of person.
- Mary Wesley
Kind, Person, Particular, Particular Kind
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