Quotes from Marian Keyes

20:11 At what time is it acceptable to go to bed? I suspect nothing short of 10 p.m. will do. Okay, I can wait until 10 p.m. 20:14 I go to bed. I am my own person. I can do as I please. I am not hidebound by the silly, bourgeois rules of our society.

Of course I'll respect you in the morning,' she reassured. 'I might disparage you a bit in the afternoon, mind,' she added. 'But I can guarantee my undivided respect in the morning.

You think that all a cruel-looking man needs is the love of a good woman and then he won't be cruel any more. But he stays cruel and you eat your heart out.

Why would we 'swing' when we had praying?

worrying about the unimportant and ignoring the vital.

After a pause he says, 'Trust you to bring everything back to sweets.' He is a fine one to talk, him and his birds.

It's upsetting when the nice bloke you really like turns out to be a complete, lying, two-timing bastard. But it's nearly as bad when the bloke that you thought was an unreliable heartbreaker turns out to be uncomplicated and nice.

As if, within their high-pitched cries and songs, there are coded threats.     'Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you get what you need and sometimes you get what you get.' Extract

Now and again, a frantic feeling seized her with sudden force. It would come on without warning, a type of panic, a sense that there was something she'd left undone, which would have catastrophic consequences if it wasn't addressed.

Sometimes, you meet a wonderful person, but it's only for a brief instant. Maybe on vacation or on a train or maybe even in a bus line. And they touch your life for a moment, but in a special way. And instead of mourning because they can't be with you for longer, or because you don't get the chance to know them better, isn't it better to be glad that you met them at all?

When happiness makes a guest appearance in one's life, it's important to make the most of it. It may not stay around for long and when it has gone wouldn't it be terrible to think that all the time one could have been happy was wasted worrying about when that happiness would be taken away?

They'd sing and eat cake and carry on around

mind. He was driving

and it mightn't be

They were very, very kind to each other and, in my discombobulated state, this was soothing.

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability…To be alive is to be vulnerable' Madeleine L'Engle

Anton and I went to see her in her office in Soho. It was less than a fortnight before I gave birth to Ema so getting me there was a huge undertaking, like crating and transporting a sick elephant.

Fights are part of life, far better to learn to live with them.

Once the door to one disaster had opened, the possibilities for catastrophe seemed open-ended and I felt I'd no choice but to go along with my life as it unraveled.

The stars are always there, even in the daylight. Sometimes we just can't see them.

You don't have to sleep with someone, you can be unfaithful with your emotions.

It never rains but it damn well pours and I was afraid I'd be washed away in the deluge.

It was an interesting lesson in power. The only time you truly have it is when you genuinely don't care whether you have it or not.

Im sorry, I thought it would be better that way. Less painful, to just let it all fade away.