Maeve Quotes

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 stone in weight, she wouldn't hang around
she'd try to cope with it. If she had a father who couldn't cope she'd have him to live with her. Only now was she beginning to realize that it was not to be so simple. People had minds of their own. And her mother's mind was like a hermetically sealed box in a vault of a bank. ~ Maeve Binchy

Nobody ever wins by the cavalry coming to rescue you. It isn't a question of you're happy if you get married, or you get thin, or you get rich, because I've known lots of thin, rich, married people who are absolutely miserable. ~ Maeve Binchy

I've outgrown my childhood name, and I haven't found a new one yet."
"Ah," she cried. "Then it will be my pleasure to name you for myself. I can tell you are a colleen after my own heart, more like to me than my own daughter Findbhair. So I bestow on you the brave name of Maeve until such a time as another name shall claim you. ~ Elizabeth Cunningham

Benny explained that it wasn't her sweater. It was borrowed from a fellow. She wondered why she needed to tell so much to strangers. ~ Maeve Binchy

I believed that old people never laughed. I thought they sighed a lot and groaned. They walked with sticks, and they didn't like children on bicycles or roller skates ... or with big dogs. ~ Maeve Binchy

He feared her hatred more than any sword. ~ Maeve Greyson

I'll understand if you don't want me. But I will be heartbroken. You are all I ever dreamed of and hoped for. You are much, much more. Please know that I didn't think I was mean-minded. But I realize I am. I don't want you to put your arms around me and say it's all right, that you forgive me. I want you to be sure that you do, and my love for you will last as long as I live. I can see no lightness, no humour, no joke to make. I just hope that we will be able to go back to when we had laughter, and the world was coloured, not black and white and grey. I am so sorry for hurting you. I could inflict all kinds of pain on myself, but it would not take back any I gave to you. - David Power ~ Maeve Binchy

If I see Marian Keyes' books or Patricia Scanlan's books given more prominence than mine in the bookstore, I'll move mine to the front. I've told them I do this, and they've confessed to doing the same thing to me. ~ Maeve Binchy

Dan Lynch was chuckling, his hand around his small glass. 'I remember Billy saying that AA was a Protestant thing when you came right down to it. Started by a bunch of Protestants. He said he didn't like the chummy way some of them were always calling Our Lord by his first name. I drove him to the first meeting and waited to take him home, 'cause Maeve didn't want him driving, and when he came out he said you could tell who the Catholics were because they'd all been bowing their heads every ten seconds while the Protestants bantered on about Jesus, Jesus Jesus.'
(And sure enough, up and down our stretch of table, heads bobbed at the name.) ~ Alice McDermott

There are no makeovers in my books. The ugly duckling does not become a beautiful swan. She becomes a confident duck able to take charge of her own life and problems. ~ 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

Her life was like her house - a colorful fantasy where anything was possible if you wanted it badly enough. ~ Maeve Binchy

Growing up in Ireland, there never seemed to be the notion that children should be seen and not heard. We all looked forward to mealtimes when we'd sit around the table and talk about our days. Storytelling and long, rambling conversations were considered good things. ~ Maeve Binchy

Tony and Kimberley and had wanted to protect her, ~ Maeve Haran

Gorgeous I called him and that he is, Maeve: you'd be surprised. And nasty I called him, and that, Maeve, was a shrewd piece of insight, for nasty he certainly is. And a clever bastard, I called him. ... Not to his face, dear. We're not all born to be heroes. But what he may not know, Maeve, is that I'm a clever bastard as well. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

And he said nothing. Just put his arms around her more closely as the whole heart clinic and their friends and relations danced to the music of "Hey Jude". ~ Maeve Binchy

Where do they come from?" In those days, her every word was gospel truth, and I would have asked anything to keep her talking to me.
"Tears. The first time Oberon left Maeve for her pretty sister, she didn't understand, and she nearly died of sorrow. ~ Seanan McGuire

including Edna Millay, there were five such women: essayist Maeve Brennan, columnist Neith Boyce, novelist Edith Wharton, and social visionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ~ Kate Bolick

Who knows what light housework means? One nun's light could be another nun's penal servitude. ~ 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

The rage she felt was a real thing, you could almost take it out of her and see it, like a red mist. ~ Maeve Binchy

God, Benny, don't blow your nose like that in the church. You'd lift half the congregation out of their seats," Patsy warned. ~ Maeve Binchy

If you're going on a plane journey, you're more likely to take one of my stories than 'Finnegan's Wake.' ~ Maeve Binchy

And there she was.

In deepening blues of descending night, amid the snow beginning till, Aelin Galathynius had appeared before the sealed southern gate.

Had appeared before Erawan and Maeve.

Her unbound hair billowed in the wind like a golden banner, a last ray of light with the dying of the day.

Silence fell. Even the screaming stopped as all turned toward the gate.

But Aelin did not balk. Did not run from the Valg queen and king who halted as if in delight at the lone figure who dared face them.

Lysandra let out a strangled sob. "She-she has no magic left." The shifter's voice broke. "She has nothing left."

Still Aelin lifted her sword.

Flames ran down the blade.

One flame against the darkness gathered.

One flame to light the night.

Aelin raised her shield, and flames encircled it, too.

Burning bright, burning undaunted. A vision of old, reborn once more.

The cry went down the castle battlements, through the city, along the walls.

The queen had come home at last.

The queen had come to hold the gate. ~ Sarah J. Maas

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

Damnation. She needed him inside her. All the way. Now. "If you don't take me now I'm going to be forced to rape you." Trulie slid her hand down between them, grabbed his cock and aligned it for immediate entry.
"As you will it," Gray chuckled. ~ Maeve Greyson

That Dr. Morrissey had always said that we found excuses to put off doing something that would take our minds off our worries. It was as if we didn't want to lose the luxury of worrying. ~ Maeve Binchy

I do try to live every day as if it were my last, and it has worked for me so far. ~ Maeve Binchy

All we have to face in the future is what has happened in the past. It is unbearable. ~ Maeve Brennan

The day she realized that there were many ways to go, and Mother's was only one way. Not necessarily the right way, and not at all the wrong way. Just one of the many ways ahead. ~ Maeve Binchy

It was so silly to try to define things by words. What did one person mean by infatuation or obsession and another mean by love. The whole thing couldn't be tidied away with neat little labels. - Lena Gray ~ Maeve Binchy

That was all Celaena needed to hear before she tossed the ring to Maeve, before Rowan rushed to her, his hands on her cheeks, his brow against her own. "Aelin," he murmured, and it wasn't a reprimand, or a thank-you, but ... a prayer. "Aelin," he whispered again, grinning, and kissed her brow before he dropped to both knees before her. ~ Sarah J. Maas

Never mind money; the gifts of time and skill call into being the richest marketplace in the world. ~ Maeve Binchy

In Ireland every place you visit and every person you meet has a story. And they love to tell you their stories. Everyone is interested in everything; in a land of storytellers, you will never be bored. ~ Maeve Binchy

I don't say I was 'proceeding down a thoroughfare;' I say I 'walked down the road'. I don't say I 'passed a hallowed institute of learning;' I say I 'passed a school'. ~ Maeve Binchy

My daughter Lily's the oldest, and by the time she was six months, we just had books of photos. Poor little Maeve, who's six months old now My mom hasn't met her yet, and last night she said, 'Show me some pictures!' I'm looking through my phone like, 'Well, I got a couple, but they're from two months ago' ~ Chris O'Donnell

I miss a good cup of tea, dancing, boys- definitely not rain."
"We dance," Diana protested.
Maeve had just laughed. "You dance differently when you know you won't live forever. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I have great family and good friends; the stories I told became popular, and people all over the world bought them. ~ Maeve Binchy

You can't lay down laws for what people think and hope. ~ Maeve Binchy

If you don't go to a dance, you can never be rejected, but you'll never get to dance, either. ~ Maeve Binchy

Don't let the doorknob hit you where the good Lord split you. ~ Maeve Greyson

I thought it must be desperate to be old. To wake up in the morning and remember that you were ancient - and so behave that way. I thought old people were full of aches and pains and horrible illnesses. ~ Maeve Binchy

Well dammit. Trulie hooked her hand into the crook of his elbow and turned toward the bridge. The chilling height of the structure spanning the ravine could no longer be blamed for the tingling dizziness pinging across her senses. Fear of heights was nothing compared to this subtle emotional dance with a heart-stopping Highlander. ~ Maeve Greyson

I realized that you didn't have to make self-deprecating remarks or turn yourself into the butt of some unspoken joke. I also discovered that being big didn't deter possible suitors. ~ Maeve Binchy

We do not need you. Do not come unless I call you." Ricard crawled out of bed and shut the door as the steam men moved down the hall. "Dumb things." Ricard - As Timeless As Stone ~ Maeve Alpin

The madder Maeve got, the more thoughtful she became. In this way she reminded me of our father -- every word she spoke came individually wrapped. ~ Ann Patchett

Money doesn't make you happy, but it gives a zone of comfort around you. ~ Maeve Binchy

I'm a great will maker. I've made my will every year since I was 21. ~ Maeve Binchy

I'm an escapist kind of writer. ~ Maeve Binchy

No point in destroying Wednesday thinking about Friday. This one-day-at-a-time thing really worked. Friday ~ Maeve Binchy

I see the past as it actually was," Maeve said. She was looking at the trees.

"But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered. ~ Ann Patchett

The biggest influence on my books was the fact that I had worked in a newspaper for so long. In a daily paper, you learn to write very quickly; there is no time to sit and brood about what you are going to say. ~ Maeve Binchy

Gray's dark stare bored into the eyes of the pirate who held Maeve. If you so much as breathe on her, I'll kill you, he silently vowed, ~ Danelle Harmon

I've seen a lot of people buy my books and then fall asleep on the plane soon afterwards. ~ Maeve Binchy

She made herself look. To face down that place of pain and despair. It would always leave a mark, a stain on her, but she would not let it define her.

Hers was not a story of darkness.

This would not be the story. She would fold it into herself , this place, this fear, but it would not be the whole story. It would not be her story. ~ Sarah J. Maas

The most important thing to realise is that everyone is capable of telling a story. It doesn't matter where we were born or how we grew up. ~ Maeve Binchy

My mother hoped I would meet a nice doctor or barrister or accountant who would marry me and take me to live in what is now called Fashionable Dublin Four. But she felt that this was a vain hope. I was a bit loud to make a nice professional wife, and anyway, I was too keen on spending my holidays in far flung places to meet any of these people. ~ Maeve Binchy

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

Yes - at the cost of a third of your army. What will happen when you try to seize what remains of Tamoura? When the Beldish strike at you again? Queen Maeve is watching you, I'm sure." He takes a deep breath. "Adelina, you're Queen of the Sealands now. You've annexed Domacca and northern Tamoura in the Sunlands. At some point, your goal should be not to conquer more territories but to keep order in the territories you do have. And you won't achieve that by ordering your Inquisitors to drag unmarked civilians out into the streets and brand them with a hot iron. ~ Marie Lu

The situation. First time in the country and she had found St. Jarlath's Crescent with no difficulty. "You must be Noel. I hope I'm not too early for the household." "No, we were all up. We're about to go to work, you see, and you are very welcome, by the way." "Thank you. Well, shall I come in and say hello and good-bye to them?" Noel realized that he might have left her forever on the doorstep, but then he was only half awake. It took him until about eleven a.m., when he had his first vodka and Coke, to be fully in control of the day. Noel was absolutely certain that nobody at Hall's knew of his morning injection of alcohol and ~ Maeve Binchy

Maeve could have lost a race with a tree ~ Michael J. Sullivan

When I left New York, not a lot of shows were happening there, but 'Golden Boy' is such a New York show. ~ Stella Maeve

I was the big, bossy older sister, full of enthusiasms, mad fantasies, desperate urges to be famous, and anxious to be a saint - a settled sort of saint, not one who might have to suffer or die for her faith. ~ Maeve Binchy

A fine man", observed my sister, pouring mead for the two of us. "Well trained. ~ Juliet Marillier

On the first day of school, my father told me I'd be the most popular girl and everyone would love me and want to be my friend. It wasn't so, but it gave me an enormous amount of confidence. ~ Maeve Binchy

Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look. ~ Maeve Binchy

When I was younger, I avoided exercise or anything strenuous. I didn't even enjoy walking. As I got older, I spent so much time marking books or sitting at a desk writing that there was no room for exercise - not that I would have bothered anyway. ~ Maeve Binchy

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

I was just lucky I lived in this time of mass-market paperbacks. ~ Maeve Binchy

Listen to me, Ria. It will be different when you and I have a home. It will be a real home, one that people will want to come running back to. ~ Maeve Binchy

A priest, who came from a land far away and wed priestess Seshat, used powerful magic for Pharaoh Tutimaeus. With his invention of a horseless chariot and magic men who blew steam, the Egyptians defeated the Hyksos warriors." He felt his mouth quirk and a deep chuckle rolled from his belly. "Well, an Egyptian priest is a quite a step up from assistant to the conservator of the Louvre." - As Timeless As Stone ~ Maeve Alpin

A central principle underlying Mrs Quinty's Rules for Writing is that you have to have a Beginning Middle and End. If you don't have these your Reader is lost. But what if Lost is exactly where the writer is? I asked her. Ruth, the writer can't be lost, she said, and then knew she'd said it too quickly and bit her lip knowing I was going to say something about Dad. She pressed her knees together and diverted into a fit of dry coughing. This, Dear Reader, is a river narrative. My chosen style is The Meander. I know that in The Brothers Karamazov (Book 1,777, Penguin Classics, London) Ippolit Kirillovich chose the historical form of narration because Dostoevsky says it checked his own exuberant rhetoric. Beginnings middles and ends force you into that place where you have to Stick to the Story as Maeve Mulvey said the night the Junior Certs were supposed to be going to the cinema in Ennis but were buying cans in Dunnes and drinking ~ Niall Williams

He had not known it was possible to love a little human being as he loved Annie. ~ Maeve Binchy

It's a funny old world. Once you realize that, you're halfway there. ~ Maeve Binchy

bowls of cornflakes, ~ Maeve Binchy

To heal would be to open the wound,examine it and forgive ~ Maeve Binchy

I have been blessed with friends who do things rather than buy things: friends who will change books at the library, take a bag of your old clothes to a thrift store, bring you cuttings and plant them in a window box, fill the bird feeder in your garden when you can't get out. ~ Maeve Binchy

You may discover that the very aspects which make it most unendurable are what gives New York its meaning. Its inconsistencies and anonymity, its seeming indifference to you and every other individual is really what makes it a safe haven for individuals everywhere (Maeve Brennan) ~ Elizabeth Winder

I don't think we should spend any time wandering around that remote possibility. It's nice of you to wish me well, but actually I find it unbearably patronizing. ~ Maeve Binchy

I'm mainly an airport author, and if you're trying to take your mind off the journey, you're not going to read 'King Lear.' ~ Maeve Binchy

She said that it was dangerous to try to know somebody too well. People should have their own reserves, she said, the places they went in their minds, where no one else should follow. ~ Maeve Binchy

We wait for the Queen of the Valg... Who in this world calls herself Maeve. ~ Sarah J. Maas

Of course I wanted children. Bright, gorgeous, loving children. I could almost see them. ~ Maeve Binchy

After my hip operation, I had to cut out butter, which I loved, and salt. I no longer eat desserts with lots of cream, and I've cut right back on alcohol. ~ Maeve Binchy

home early, Liam? ~ Maeve Binchy

Augustine's lips tense into a line. "Oh, for the gods' sakes, Little Jac," he snaps. "We know Lucent wasn't just your riding companion." At her stunned expression, Augustine laughs. "You are good at many things, but you are horrible at keeping your love interests a secret. ~ Marie Lu

I was very pleased, obviously, to have outsold great writers. But I'm not insane - I do realise that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. ~ Maeve Binchy

I think you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand. ~ Maeve Binchy

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

No one has the power to shatter your dreams unless you give it to them. ~ Maeve Greyson

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

When I was being brought up, we weren't allowed to wallow in self-pity, which was a thoroughly good thing. We were all fine and healthy because that was what we were told to be. ~ Maeve Binchy

When I was teaching Latin in girls' schools before I became a writer, I didn't much like it if parents would come in and say, 'We'll have less of the Ovid and Virgil and more of the grammar, please.' After all, I was the one in charge. That's how I feel about doctors. You should trust them to do their job properly. ~ Maeve Binchy

I find that a decision to do something leaves me free, while a decision not to do something only leaves me surrounded with undone things and endless, exasperating chances of changing my mind.

p.175 from "Giving Money in the Street ~ Maeve Brennan

I never wanted to write. I just wrote letters home from a kibbutz in Israel to reassure my parents that I was still alive and well fed and having a great time. They thought these letters were brilliant and sent them to a newspaper. So I became a writer by accident. ~ Maeve Binchy

Because I made a promise. A promise to my friend that I would see her kingdom freed." She shoved her scarred palm into his face. "I made an unbreakable vow. And you and Maeve - all you gods-damned bastards - are getting in the way of that." She went off down the hillside again. He followed.
"And what of your own people? What of your own kingdom?"
"They are better off without me, just as you said."
His tattoo scrunched as he snarled. "So you'd save another land, but not yours. Why can't your friend save her own kingdom?"
"Because she is dead!" She screamed the last word so loudly it burned in her throat. "Because she is dead, and I am left with my worthless life!"
He merely stared at her with that animal stillness. When she walked away, he didn't come after her. ~ Sarah J. Maas

Have ye e'er seen such a lovely set o' bosoms? ~ Maeve Greyson

If he caught sight of ye in yer wee bit o' black lace, the man's plaid would surely stand out stiff as a banner hung across a pole. ~ Maeve Greyson

I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer. ~ Maeve Binchy

We asked our friends and relations to lend us their children, and, because we lived in London, children loved to come and stay for their half-term holidays. ~ Maeve Binchy