Sue Townsend Quotes

My skin is dead good. I think it must be a combination of being in love and Lucozade. ~ Sue Townsend

Brian kept the photograph inside an Old Bible. He knew it would be safe there. Nobody ever opened it. ~ Sue Townsend

I have decided to keep a full journal, in the hope that my life will perhaps seem more interesting when it is written down. ~ Sue Townsend

Rosie Germaine Mole. ~ Sue Townsend

The DSS offices are not given enough funding, their staff are poorly paid and are driven to distraction by the amount of work they have to do. There is frequent turnover of staff. Morale is extremely low. Working with desperate people all day is very dispiriting; their unhappiness rubs off on you. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

I used to be the sort of boy who had sand kicked in his face, now I'm the sort of boy who watches somebody else have it kicked in their face ~ Sue Townsend

I've always loved books. I'm passionate about them. I think books are sexy. They are smooth and solid and contain delightful surprises. They smell good. They fit into a handbag and can be carried around and opened at will. They don't change. They are what they are and nothing else. One day I want to own a lot of books and have them nbear to me in my house, so that I can stroll to my bookshelves and choose what I fancy. I want a harem. I shall keep my favourites by my bed. ~ Sue Townsend

Personally, nothing would surprise me any more. If my father announced that he was really a Russian agent or my mother ran away with a circus knife thrower, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow. ~ Sue Townsend

I don't know why women are so mad about flowers. Personally, they leave me cold. I prefer trees. ~ Sue Townsend

It's amazing what you can get used to, given time. ~ Sue Townsend

I prefer to keep my secrets to myself, to the grave ... and beyond! ~ Sue Townsend

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

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

food cooked without love was bad food. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

My mother is now in the hospital 60 miles away, where they are treating her pneumonia. I refuse to feel guilty. Guilt is a destructive emotion and doesn't fit in with my Life Plan. ~ Sue Townsend

said he 'would rather go without'. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

Watching 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is my guilty pleasure. ~ Sue Townsend

Adrian Mole's father was so angry that so many pepole got divorced nowadays. HE had been unhappilly married for 30 years, why should everybody else get away? ~ Sue Townsend

To unlock the heavy outer door and to walk into the hushed interior, with the morning light spilling from the high windows on to the waiting books, gave her such pleasure that she would have worked for nothing. ~ Sue Townsend

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

Alexander assured her, 'Eva, none of us know our children. Because they are not us. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

I am the world's worst diabetic. ~ Sue Townsend

I think Jane Austen should write something a bit more modern. ~ Sue Townsend

Will you lie to me and promise to read them? Books need to be read. The pages need to be turned. ~ Sue Townsend

8.45 a.m. My mother is in the hospital grounds smoking a cigarette. She is looking old and haggard. All the debauchery is catching up with her. ~ Sue Townsend

Since I learned to read I've used them as a kind of anaesthetic. ~ Sue Townsend

It's no surprise to me that intellectuals commit suicide, go mad or die from drink. We feel things more than other people. We know the world is rotten and that chins are ruined by spots. ~ Sue Townsend

we all need to be loved, and we all need to love. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

He had always had difficulty in recognising an emotion. ~ Sue Townsend

'The Gambler' by Dostoevsky. It was the first time I realised that it was possible to have good and evil in one person. It led me to read a lot of Russian literature. ~ Sue Townsend

Nothing was true for long. In time, everything was deconstructed. ~ Sue Townsend

Just measured my thing. It has grown one centimetre. I might be needing it soon. ~ Sue Townsend

My grandma let the dog out of the coal shed. She said my mother was cruel to lock it up. The dog was sick on the kitchen floor. My grandma locked it up again. ~ Sue Townsend

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

Adrian Mole's diary
Easter
Poor Jesus, it must have been dead awful for him. I wouldn't have the guts to do it myself. ~ Sue Townsend

Love is the only thing that keeps me sane ... ~ Sue Townsend

Had a note from Mr Cherry asking me when I can resume my paper round. I sent a note back to say that due to my mother's desertion I am still in a mental state. This is true. I wore odd socks yesterday without knowing it. One was red and one was green. I must pull myself together. I could end up in a lunatic asylum. ~ Sue Townsend

She had always been comforted by confectionery ~ Sue Townsend

I always write back to people who are kind enough to write to me. Actually, I don't write - I recline on my red velvet sofa with my feet on the coffee table and dictate the letters to my eldest son. ~ Sue Townsend

Every time I start a new piece of work, I spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it. ~ Sue Townsend

I have decided to be a poet. My father said there isn't a suitable career structure for poets and no pensions and other boring things, but I am quite decided. ~ Sue Townsend

You should only speak when you have something worth saying. ~ Sue Townsend

Barry Kent's father looks like a big ape and has got more hair on the back of his hands than my father has got on his entire head. ~ Sue Townsend

I don't know why people get so hot and bothered about sex. It's only the insertion of a penis into a nearby vagina. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

Eva said, Are you sure that it's my husband, Dr Brian Beaver, she's carrying on with? Only he's not the type.
"He's a man, isn't he?" Said Nicola. ~ Sue Townsend

I usually listen to the same thing over and over again: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. And Leonard Cohen. ~ Sue Townsend

Most social problems could be helped or prevented if people had more money and practical advice. ~ Sue Townsend

I take life very seriously. I can laugh at it, because what else can you do? But it's a hard daily battle. ~ Sue Townsend

Pauline: "All under-fives are mad Adrian, you used to talk to the moon. You invited it to your birthday party and cried when it didn't turn up."
George: "When it went dark and the moon came up, you ran outside and threw a sausage roll at it! ~ Sue Townsend

She liked people. Me, I can take them or leave them, but mostly leave them. ~ Sue Townsend

Remember that conversation is like ping pong. You say something, she says something. Then you respond to something she's just said, then she bats it back. You ask her a question. She replies. Do you get the idea? ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

In my opinion it is essential to get lost in a new city, that way you are forced to walk about and discover places at a proper, natural pace. But you must have the taxi fare home, and it helps if you can remember the name of your hotel. ~ Sue Townsend

Measured my 'thing'. It was eleven centimetres. ~ Sue Townsend

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. ~ Sue Townsend

Mrs O'Leary said, 'Tis the child I feel sorry for', and all the people looked up and saw me, so I looked especially sad, I expect the experience will give me a trauma at some stage in the future. I'm all right at the moment, but you never know. ~ Sue Townsend

What's the most important quality a person could have, something that would benefit us all? ~ Sue Townsend

As a journey begins with one step, so a crowd begins to collect with one person. ~ Sue Townsend

I couldn't think of anything to say so I kept quiet. I still can't think of anything to say so I am going to sleep. ~ Sue Townsend

Yes, 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. ~ Sue Townsend

Mrs. Ball has got a daughter who is a writer. I asked her how her daughter qualified to be one. Mrs. Ball said that her daughter was dropped on her head as a child and has been "a bit queer" ever since. ~ Sue Townsend

Impossibility. I can tell you this much: the word is a great big log thrown on the fires of love. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

Grace is goodness and respect given freely and unconditionally. A sense of divine love and protection bestowed on us when we need strength and renewal. Grace helps us know we are not alone and believe we are cared for and cherished. Grace is a drink of clear, clean water in the desert. ~ Sue Thoele

Don't tell me this hurts for you too. A killer cannot sue for the bruises on his knuckles or the blood on his shoes. ~ Beau Taplin

At that point, I sat down and made an alphabetical list of all the crime related words I could think of. So here I am now, nearly half-way through, probably tied up until the year 2015 or SO. ~ Sue Grafton

I enjoy my family a lot. I have active teenagers, and they're in soccer and choral events. ~ Linda Sue Park

But I would tell Mother none of this. Nor would I tell her that at the hour of his death, I was floating free in the ocean, in a solitude I would remember all of my life, the gulls cawing over my head and the white flag flying at the top of the pole. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

All of us are subjected to somebody else's power at some point. So once in a while you kiss ass. So what? Either you make your peace with that early, or you end up living your life as a crank and a misfit. ~ Sue Grafton

Sept.17 (1780). When we call loudly thro' the speaking-trumpet to Timothy ( the tortoise), he does not seem to regard the noise. Sept.18. Timothy eats heartily. Oct.3. No ring-ouzels seen this autumn yet. Timothy very dull. ~ Sylvia Townsend Warner

Two things I will forever be sure about. Gravity and how love pulls on my heart. ~ Jeffrey Fry

When I was being forgiving, I said that my mother was simply exhausted. I suspected, though, she was simply mean. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

I heard mauma say, I don't spec to get free. The only way I'm getting free is for you to get free. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

I was trying to work out who I was. ~ Sue Whitaker

I was recalling that other world in which it had thrilled me, in a way, the surprise of thinking that I could be a person who would betray Daniel. Now I wondered if Daniel could surprise himself, could surprise me, by being such a person too. Would he let himself do such a thing? I didn't think so. And then I wondered: Is it by will, then, that we are who we are? Do we decide, do we make ourselves, after a certain point in life?
I tried to call up the moment when I had decided I could be such a person. It seemed to me I hadn't quite got there, not really. That I was still just playing with the idea of it when the ground shifted under me. But perhaps to play with such an idea was already to be a certain kind of person.
~ Sue Miller

She nodded, wondering why couldn't she have been named Mary. Or Sue.
But no, she had to be nine-letter Elizabeth. ~ J.R. Ward

Happiness, honor, and great estate,
For those who patiently work and wait. ~ John Townsend Trowbridge

I went searching in a foreign land and found my way home. ~ Sue Bender

Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

The tears of the young who go their way, last a day; But the grief is long of the old who stay. ~ John Townsend Trowbridge

When I'm with you, I don't feel self-conscious or like I'm crippled or ugly. I don't know how you do that, but it's nice. ~ Sue Grafton

Our earlier lives aren't wrong, they are just pre-construction. Our lives are meant to unfold, to evolve, and that's good. The only wrong thing, perhaps, is permanently hesitating on the verge of courage, which would prevent this process from taking place. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

I have chosen the way of my death, which is something few of us are privileged to do. ~ Linda Sue Park

Don't hold back and save stuff for the next book. Put everything you have into the one you're writing, - Michael Connelly ~ Sue Ward Drake

It's a poor bureaucrat who can't stall a good idea until even its sponsor is relieved to see it dead and officially buried. ~ Robert Townsend

Stories are amazing and powerful because they can resonate with people depending on their needs and experiences and speak truths we need to hear in that moment in time. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

Emotions, or feelings, have a function. They tell us something. They are a signal....Anger tells us that our boundaries have been violated. Much like a nation's radar defense system, angry feelings serve as an "early warning system" telling us we're in danger of being injured or controlled. ~ John Townsend

I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

This is a hard question. But as women we have a right to ask the hard questions. The only way I have ever understood, broken free, emerged, healed, forgiven, flourished, and grown powerful is by asking the hardest questions and then living into the answers through opening up to my own terror and transmuting it into creativity. I have gotten nowhere by retreating into hand-me-down sureties or resisting the tensions that truth ignited. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

In New England enslaved people had the right to sue for wrongful enslavement. ~ Manisha Sinha

If I wrote an autobiography, I'd have to sue the author for defamation ... ~ Seeley James

Your moment will come, and when it does, you must seize it with all the bravery you can find. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

To fail to try to understand the world from the point of view of the lion or the bat is to admit that the human existence is so limited that it cannot project itself satisfactorily into the minds of different creatures. Do we really want to accept this limitation when we quite satisfactorily project ourselves into all sorts of invented imaginary creatures, even those with very different sensory systems and value systems than our own? All one need do is to read a few comic books to conclude that the projection abilities of our species are great indeed and that our children, at least, have little difficulty in going beyond their ordinary frameworks of reality. ~ Sue Savage-Rumbaugh