Quotes by Maeve Binchy

About Maeve Binchy:

Maeve Binchy Snell was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker best known for her sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, her descriptive characters, her interest in human nature, and her often clever surprise endings. Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writer.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

But an intelligent man like you would know that to live in an unrealistic hope is a very foolish way to spend a life." - Lena Gray

Maeve Binchy

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

I've been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around.

Maeve Binchy

Always she had sounded sympathetic, always she had appeared to understand. But inside there was a bit of her that said that they couldn't have tried hard enough. If Celia had a daughter who was desperately unhappy at school and who had lost four ston...

Maeve Binchy

She soon called a halt to the work. Judy's great success was that she stopped her helpers before they got tired.

Maeve Binchy

My brother married young, and his is the best marriage I know.

Maeve Binchy

I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.

Maeve Binchy

Because I saw my parents relaxing in armchairs and reading and liking it, I thought it was a peaceful grown-up thing to do, and I still think that.

Maeve Binchy

We're nothing if we're not loved. When you meet somebody who is more important to you than yourself, that has to be the most important thing.

Maeve Binchy

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

Maeve Binchy

I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turn into confident ducks.

Maeve Binchy

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

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

I didn't have a sweet tooth, but I liked butter, and I liked sauces, and I liked wine... and curry... and cheeses.

Maeve Binchy

I suppose, to be fair, I don't miss the energy of youth very much - because I was never fit. So it doesn't matter not being able to walk miles, striding the countryside, taking deep breaths and enjoying the scenery. That was never on my agenda.

Maeve Binchy

In my stories, whenever there's somebody wonderful and charming and bright and intelligent, that's me!

Maeve Binchy

Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look.

Maeve Binchy

You don't wear all your jewellery at once. You're much more believable if you talk in your own voice.

Maeve Binchy

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,...

Maeve Binchy

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 peopl...

Maeve Binchy

Author Bio

  • NameMaeve Binchy
  • DescriptionIrish novelist
  • BornMay 28, 1940
  • DiedJuly 30, 2012
  • CountryIreland
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Playwright; School Teacher
  • WorksCircle Of Friends; Tara Road; Scarlet Feather