Mary Wesley quotes

We all lie to each other, present some sort of front. (Mary Wesley)
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
Of course risk-taking does not always pay off, but it's a lot of fun! View quote
Mary Wesley
They may turn out to be a great disappointment, or perhaps they may be full of enchanting surprises. View quote
Mary Wesley
Twenty years ago, I was living in a lovely cottage on the edge of Dartmoor but I couldn't afford to run a car. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
I don't write for any particular kind of person. View quote
Mary Wesley
It seemed sensible to move to a market town where I could walk everywhere. (Mary Wesley)
I found out only recently that we were making an index of enemy code signs. View quote
Mary Wesley
I have a garden, and I'm passionately interested in young people. View quote
Mary Wesley
I have deliberately left Sylvester and Julia's appearances to the reader's imagination. View quote
Mary Wesley
Looking back, I understand that I was teaching myself to write. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
I always read that men don't like intelligent girls, but I've always found the reverse. (Mary Wesley)
I never really know the title of a book until it's finished. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley
Each marriage has to be judged separately, and we never know what's going on in another person's marriage. View quote
Mary Wesley
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. View quote
Mary Wesley

Mary Wesley

Occupation: British Novelist
Born: June 24, 1912
Died: December 30, 2002
Quotes count: 29