“I don't really care what people tell children - when you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, one more fib won't hurt. But I am infuriated by the growing notion, posited in some touchy-feely quarters, that all women are, or can be, beautiful.”
Women“I don't really care what people tell children - when you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, one more fib won't hurt. But I am infuriated by the growing notion, posited in some touchy-feely quarters, that all women are, or can be, beautiful.”
Women“As a precocious teen I dreamed of being Graham Greene. Well, as it turned out, I never wrote a great novel, sadly, and I never converted to Catholicism, happily, but I did do one thing he did. That is, in middle age I moved to a seaside town and got into a right barney with the local powers-that-be.”
Age“Big women do themselves a disservice when they attempt to become the Righteous Fat (the Righteous Thin are bad enough, all that running around and sweating, somehow believing it means anything).”
Women“The Feminist Me says that a woman's right to her own body should be inviolate at all times, free from fear of peeping paps.”
Fear“As a child, I wanted only two things - to be left alone to read my library books, and to get away from my provincial hometown and go to London to be a writer. And I always knew that when I got there, I wanted to make loads of money.”
Alone“A good part - and definitely the most fun part - of being a feminist is about frightening men.”
Men“Lots of women love to accuse men of being immature when the fellow in question displays a reluctance to 'commit.'”
Women“Most women are wise to the fact that lots of men love a cat-fight, and thus go out of their way not to give them one.”
Women“Surely being a Professional Beauty - let alone an ageing one - is one of the most insecure and doomed careers imaginable.”
Alone“I am firmly of the opinion that women who make a lot of effort to hang onto their looks in middle age (unless they are beauties, entertainers or prostitutes) are rather sad, as one should surely have something more substantial to recommend one by this time, such as kindness or cleverness.”
Age“Show me a frigid women and, nine times out of ten, I'll show you a little man.”
Women“Shame, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.”
Beauty“What sort of sap doesn't know by now that picture-perfect beauty is all done with smoke and mirrors anyway?”
Beauty“It may be a cliche, but it's true - the build-up to Christmas is so much more pleasurable than the actual day itself.”
Christmas“No one knows 'men' as such, any more than anyone knows 'women,' and if they do generalise they're probably trying to hide their own ignorance. You might know one 'man,' yes, or even lots of individual 'men'.”
Women“Mind you, I've always been a very off-message type of fat broad one who gladly admits she reached the size she is now solely through lack of discipline and love of pleasure, and who rather despises people (except those with proven medical conditions) who pretend that it is generally otherwise.”
Medical“As a kid, I grew to define what I didn't want my life to be like by sitting behind moaning women on the bus, hearing them bang on about their aches and pains, both real and imagined.”
Women“When did women whose looks are not their living start conducting themselves like the simpering inmates of an Ottoman empire seraglio?”
Women“Being a monarchist - saying that one small group is born more worthy of respect than another - is just as warped and strange as being a racist.”
Respect“As I get older I think, contrary to modern assumption but in line with the old Lerner and Lowe song, that it would actually benefit both them and society if - to quote Professor Higgins - a woman could be more like a man.”
Society