Quotes from Ruth Rendell

talked dolefully about his job—he sold antiques in a shop owned

answer him. He and the sergeant went to the head

It was all very well to talk of absence making the heart grow fonder, but "out of sight, out of mind

It was all very well to talk of absence making the heart grow fonder, but "out of sight, out of mind" might be just as true a truism. He hadn't

I think we all fear appearing foolish in public. We don't want to be laughed at.

People want to marry me for companionship. No thanks! I've got my cats for that!

In 'The Blood Doctor,' I wrote about the history of haemophilia and the devastating effects of the disease at a time when there was no remedy.

I write every morning. From about a quarter to nine to a quarter to one. It might be nine to one, or 8:30 to 12:30.

I knew quite a lot about politics before I went to Parliament.

I do think that being a sort of celebrity and being well off does give me some responsibility.

I do think that being a sort of celebrity and being well off does give me some responsibility. I think that people who make a lot of money - and I do - should certainly give a considerable amount of it away.

I just want to tell a good story, so I always ask myself, 'Are these people real to me?'

I'm careful about keeping myself fit and thin, or as thin as I can manage.

I've had two proposals since I've been a widow. I am a wonderful catch, you know. I have a lot of money.

Some say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

We always know when we are awake that we cannot be dreaming even though when actually dreaming we feel all this may be real.

I really do literally put myself into a character's shoes.

The knives of jealousy are honed on details.

She was happiest when sitting about and reading. She had read thousands of books, seeing no point in doing anything else unless you had to.

Like all true eccentrics, he thought other people very odd.

selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

Maybe being married is talking to oneself with one's other self listening.

Literacy is in our veins like blood. It enters every other phrase. It is next to impossible to hold a real conversation, as against an interchange of instructions and acquiescences, in which reference to the printed word is not made or in which the implications of something read do not occur.

It was useless arguing with people like her. They had stereotyped minds that ran along grooves of stock response and the commonplace.