Quotes from Catherine Cookson

The only thing I want from my money is to die in comfort.

Those who say they would write a book if only they had time will never become authors.

The Girl was gone, buried in the past. She never wanted to hear that name again. She was a woman for better for worse. Whatever the future might bring she could face it as a woman, Ned Ridley's woman.

You have never kissed me. Patted me, hugged me, but you've never kissed me. Oh, Rosie, Rosie. His face looked on the point of laughter, then his lips fell gently on hers and he held the kiss for some time. Now, pressing her face from him, he said That's merely an introduction. When your cheek is better I'll do it properly.

Oh God, I'm sorry I bring trouble on people. I don't mean to, you know that, you know that. And don't punish me by taking Ned. Keep him safe that's all I ask. That's all I'll ever ask again, just keep him safe.

You make your son out to be to be almost an idiot; well let me tell you something, Mrs Loan, if he were a complete idiot, drooling at the mouth, he'd still be a better person then you.

Life was good except for?oh, yes, there was always an except.

You're born but you're not buried yet.

Fancy feathers make peacocks, but you pluck them and see what's left.

And, like the prodigal son, he had returned broken in body and also in mind to the house where he had been born, and he and his child had been welcomed with open arms.

She's only got eight fingers but she's got them stuck in all kinds of pies, and she keeps her thumbs bare for testing new ones.

John was a man of few words and many grunts and one of his grunts could express a volume. He had a variety of them which he adapted as the situation arose. But they all seemed to express his view on life, the principle of which was, 'you leave me be, and I'll leave you be';

Fear is the enemy, fear is the foe, if you run before it down you'll go. But if you stand and look it in the face, God will pour into you the bravery of grace.

Come and sit down girl, for days you've been flying around there like a bluebottle.

was what he called faint tea, too weak to climb out of the pot

Anyway, as they say, where there's life, there's hope. So let us eat.

Platitudes or otherwise, there were no words to ease the agony of living.

I'm not against having to work for someone; we're all working for someone really. We here, in this business, have our masters, but we do seem to have a greater amount of freedom allowed us than in some others, and I've always been against the hold one human being has over another, whether it's in employment or in the family.

You don't like possessive people then?' 'It isn't that I don't like them, I cannot understand what motivates them, unless it is an inadequacy in themselves, some deep want, and in order to alleviate it in some way, they hang on to another human being. It's a sort of desire for power. Those who run businesses are possessed in a similar way. They have power over people; and very often, on their whims depends a man's livelihood.

Yes, I know you and your old maxim you were always quoting: Let him go and you'll keep him. Not let him go and you lose him. Yes, you did.

From the hills in the early dawn, Small, thin, mist-wreathed, she came upon him; Hair sodden to the brow, Eyes like agates, Lips apart, tongue flicking at words frozen in her head. Gliding to his feet, She caught his hand and said 'come help me, mister, or she'll be dead.

Only that she is the light of our days and without her life would be very dull in this house. She's a trial, there's no doubt about that, but all things worthwhile are trials. Life's a trial, it's a battle, it's a strife from the day you're born. And that's shared out between rich and poor alike, only the Lord seems to be more generous towards the poor with it, if you know what I mean.

He heard him speak some words, but he couldn't make out what they were; he then saw him bend and kiss her, not on the cheek but on the lips. Then Mrs Carver's voice from

Let youth pass, and no matter what opportunities presented themselves, the capacity to build the broad base required to support the structure of learning was gone.