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" 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

Great

Father

She

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" 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. "

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" 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. "

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" 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

Children

Think

" They may turn out to be a great disappointment, or perhaps they may be full of enchanting surprises. "

" 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. "

" 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

People

Love

" 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. "

" Of course risk-taking does not always pay off, but it's a lot of fun! "

" I always read that men don't like intelligent girls, but I've always found the reverse. "

" Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety. "

" I have a garden, and I'm passionately interested in young people. "