Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I always wanted to be Jo in 'Little Women.' She's a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I'm probably more like Madame Bovary. "

Related Quotes:

" I have a slight addiction to Diet Coke, and, of course, I absolutely shouldn't touch it because it makes the kidneys work really hard. "

" In the playground, I always made people laugh; I used to charge them three pence for an impression of a teacher. It kept me in toffees. "

" I think we take it for granted that if you are with your husband after 30 years, then he is the love of your life. "

" I'm spectacularly disorganised. I wrote my latest book in seven different notebooks scattered throughout my house. "

" My second husband encouraged me to go to a writing group at our local theatre. It was my 'coming out of the closet' moment. "

" I am the world's worst diabetic. "

" Yes - I am usually overweight. I have had to be interested in diet because of being diabetic for 30 years and having kidney failure. "

" I used to think I had nice arms, but I don't even think that anymore. "

" In the early days, it was, you know, I used to weep while I was writing. I used to grab at any kind of anything, any hint, any tip of how to make it easy. "

" I am a very independent person, and I, you know, I maintain that independence, but, you know, certain things - I mean, it takes, you know, it's just much easier for other people if other people can help you every now and again. "

" We had library books in our house, but not our own. So you had 14 days to read them. There would be eight books a fortnight in our house and I'd read as many of those as I could. "

" I seem to be able to get depressed quite easily without any reason. "

" I became an insomniac, really, hardly slept at all, didn't even try to. And it's carried on. I hate to say I only need as much sleep as Mrs. Thatcher, but I can cope really well on five hours. "

" Watching 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is my guilty pleasure. "

" My cream and black Aga. It is the heart of the house, and people congregate around it. "

" I took my sight and mobility for granted. "

" My dark secrets are life threatening. Pockets of unhappiness set in aspic that build and build. I have this primitive feeling that if something good happens, it is going to be followed by something bad. There is always a price to pay. "

" Being poor with three small children is terrifying. You can't make any plans. You know you're not going on holiday, ever. There's no way you could ever afford driving lessons or a car. And the guilt I used to feel: they had holes in their shoes, and at one point, I had to send them to school wearing Wellingtons when the sun was shining. "

" I'm getting to the end of my magnifying glasses now. One eye's gone completely. The other is gradually dimming. Dimming - that sounds very dramatic, doesn't it? I'm so lucky. I can still make a living - and the same kind of living. "

" I am surrounded by counselors. My sister is a counselor. My daughter is training to be a counselor. A lot of my friends are counselors. "

" I married two weeks after my 18th birthday, far too young, and by the time I was 23 I was a single mother of three small children, Sean, Daniel and Victoria, living in a prefab house. "

" I hate it when people call me a 'national treasure.' It takes away your bite and makes you feel like a harmless old golden Labrador. "

" When all my kids were at home, I used to write from midnight onwards. "

" When I was a child, I dreaded blindness. We used to ask: 'Would we rather be blind or deaf?' I said I'd rather be blind, even though I was scared of it. I couldn't bear not being able to hear music or talk to people. "

" I always have this image of a woman running across a desert carrying children, trying to find water and food, not knowing when they'll get that. And her feet are slashed up from the dry, hard earth... Even when I'm uncomfortable, sometimes in pain, or just cold... I think, 'Thank God for what I've got.' "

" I am from the working class. I am now what I was then. No amount of balsamic vinegar and Prada handbags could make me forget what it was like to be poor. "

" People down on their luck deserve the best: beautiful surroundings and well-paid professional staff to help them out of their difficulties. Why not train thousands more social workers and let them sit in on claimants' interviews? "

" I'd love a day devoid of responsibilities. I've often thought about going to a hotel just to have a day away from everything. "

" I've always been fascinated by totalitarian regimes. I'm not an admirer of them. "

" Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it. "