M.C. Beaton Quotes

Isn't it sad that we only get upset about nasty things happening to people and places if television decides we should?

Hamish's family were unusual in that they had always celebrated Christmas - tree, turkey, presents and all. In parts of the Highlands, like Lochdubh, the old spirit of John Knox still wandered, blasting anyone with hellfire should they dare to celebrate this heathen festival. Hamish had often pointed out that none other than Luther was credited with the idea of the Christmas tree, having been struck by the sight of stars shining through the branches of an evergreen. But to no avail. Lochdubh lay silent and dark beside the black waters of the loch.

Husbands are always angry,
that's their nature.
And the nature of us women,
is not to pay a blind bit of notice.

More and more people each year are going abroad for Christmas ... Fed up with the fact that commercial Christmas starts in October. Fed up with carols. Dreading the arrival of Christmas cards from people they have forgotten to send a card to. Unable to bear yet another family get-together with Auntie Mary puking up in the corner after sampling too much of the punch. You see in the airports the triumphant glitter in the eyes of people who are leaving it all behind, including the hundredth rerun of Miracle on 34th Street.

The whistle of the old steam trains ... could conjure up visions of bleak distances with one solitary wail.

She turned out to be one of those irritating people who get up to leave and then stand in the doorway chattering away.

Snakes and bastards!

Just at the turn of the tide, nature held its breath - no bird sang, everything seemed to be waiting and waiting. And then, sure enough, as if someone had flicked a switch, everything started in motion again.

What's gone, and what's past help Should be past grief. - William Shakespeare

And being very young and capable of violent mood swings, she then began to worry about what to wear for dinner.

Do you know why more people don't sober up? Because they don't wear their livers on the outside. If everyone wore their liver on their forehead, say, it would be on full view and people would say, 'Heffens, Jock, that liver of yours is looking fair hobnailed,' and they would get shamed into doing something about it.

They were obsessed, taken hostage, or co-dependent – anything rather than admit they were not in control, for the very word "love" now meant weakness.

A library is a palace of dreams.

When confronted with someone who appears to be in a perpetual state of outrage, it is tempting for other people to wind them up. Besides, I have always found the most vociferous guardians of morality on matters of sex are those who aren't getting any.

Mrs. Wellington was wearing a voluminous flannel nightgown when she answered the door. Hamish was glad Mr. Wellington had found God, because it certainly looked as if he would need to wait until he got to heaven to get his reward.

Ah, when love dies, women lose two and a half inches in height.

I never wanted to be a literary writer. I wanted to be an entertainer. All I wanted was to give what a lot of writers had given me: a good time on a bad day.

Clever plastic surgery can restore an appearance of youth, but nothing changes the expression of age and experience in the eyes.