Mary Wesley Quotes & Sayings

“They may turn out to be a great disappointment, or perhaps they may be full of enchanting surprises.”

“People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier.”

“Women's courage is rather different from men's. The fact that women have to bring up children and look after husbands makes them braver at facing long-term issues, such as illness. Men are more immediately courageous. Lots of people are brave in battle.”

“Looking back, I understand that I was teaching myself to write.”

“Writing Part of the Scenery has been a very different experience. I have been reminded of people and events, real and imaginary which have been part of my life. This book is a celebration of the land which means so much to me.”

“Of course risk-taking does not always pay off, but it's a lot of fun!”

“A lot of people stop short. They don't actually die but they say, 'Right I'm old, and I'm going to retire,' and then they dwindle into nothing. They go off to Florida and become jolly boring.”

“Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.”

“Unimaginative people are spared quite a lot. They're often much happier, because they don't go through all the variety of conceptions of the person they love.”

“Each marriage has to be judged separately, and we never know what's going on in another person's marriage.”