Top 90 Maeve Binchy Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “I have no idea whether what I write will be of the remotest interest to anyone else. Some mornings when I read what I wrote the previous day I think it’s fairly entertaining; other times I think it’s pure rubbish. The main thing is not to take any notice, not to be elated or upset, just keep going.”

— Maeve Binchy

52. “I’m pleased to have outsold great writers. But I’m not insane – I realize I am a writer people buy to take on vacation.”

— Maeve Binchy

53. “I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you’re going to be an Irish writer.”

— Maeve Binchy

54. “My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour’s journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read – it was long before TV, remember!”

— Maeve Binchy

55. “I’m mainly an airport author, and if you’re trying to take your mind off the journey, you’re not going to read ‘King Lear.’”

— Maeve Binchy

56. “The rage she felt was a real thing, you could almost take it out of her and see it, like a red mist.”

— Maeve Binchy

57. “I do try to live every day as if it were my last, and it has worked for me so far.”

— Maeve Binchy

58. “2. Men like women without make-up. They don’t. They like extremely well and carefully made-up women whose skin has that expensive cultured look which comes from three hours at the dressing table. A woman who is really without make-up would frighten them to death. They regard blotches as eczema, and uneven colouring as a sign of tertiary syphilis.”

— Maeve Binchy

59. “It’s what people do is important, not what they say or feel.”

— Maeve Binchy

60. “The biggest influence on my books was the fact that I had worked in a newspaper for so long. In a daily paper, you learn to write very quickly; there is no time to sit and brood about what you are going to say.”

— Maeve Binchy

61. “Stop thinking like Alice in Wonderland, Celia told herself sternly. You’re a grown-up, it’s no use shutting your eyes, wishing things would happen.”

— Maeve Binchy

62. “I have been luckier than anyone I know or even heard of. I had a very happy childhood, a good education, I enjoyed working as a teacher, journalist and author. I have loved a wonderful man for over 33 years, and I believe he loves me, too.”

— Maeve Binchy

63. “You can’t lay down laws for what people think and hope.”

— Maeve Binchy

64. “Her life was like her house – a colorful fantasy where anything was possible if you wanted it badly enough.”

— Maeve Binchy

65. “I couldn’t have children, so that’s the bad side. But compared to everything else I have, it’s not all that terribly bad. I count my winners rather than my losers.”

— Maeve Binchy

66. “I didn’t have a sweet tooth, but I liked butter, and I liked sauces, and I liked wine and curry and cheeses.”

— Maeve Binchy

67. “After my hip operation, I had to cut out butter, which I loved, and salt. I no longer eat desserts with lots of cream, and I’ve cut right back on alcohol.”

— Maeve Binchy

68. “Of course I wanted children. Bright, gorgeous, loving children. I could almost see them.”

— Maeve Binchy

69. “Who knows what light housework means? One nun’s light could be another nun’s penal servitude.”

— Maeve Binchy

70. “If you woke up each morning, and immediately dwelt on your ills, what sort of a day could you look forward to?”

— Maeve Binchy

71. “A silly idea about a book of blessings couldn’t really work. Not seriously.”

— Maeve Binchy

72. “When I was younger, I avoided exercise or anything strenuous. I didn’t even enjoy walking. As I got older, I spent so much time marking books or sitting at a desk writing that there was no room for exercise – not that I would have bothered anyway.”

— Maeve Binchy

73. “The day she realized that there were many ways to go, and Mother’s was only one way. Not necessarily the right way, and not at all the wrong way. Just one of the many ways ahead.”

— Maeve Binchy

74. “I’ve seen a lot of people buy my books and then fall asleep on the plane soon afterwards.”

— Maeve Binchy

75. “It’s a funny old world. Once you realize that, you’re halfway there.”

— Maeve Binchy

76. “All I ever wanted to do is to write stories that people will enjoy and feel at home with.”

— Maeve Binchy

77. “He smiled at her, handsome Alan, who was always used to getting his own way. He hadn’t changed. Alan, who was already as faithless to Cinta as he had been to her. Suddenly, like a focus in binoculars, everything became clear. This was a man worth spending not one more minute thinking about, second-guessing or trying to understand.”

— Maeve Binchy

78. “It was true what they had been saying: if people remember you, then you’re not dead. It was very comforting.”

— Maeve Binchy

79. “God, Benny, don’t blow your nose like that in the church. You’d lift half the congregation out of their seats,” Patsy warned.”

— Maeve Binchy

80. “On the first day of school, my father told me I’d be the most popular girl and everyone would love me and want to be my friend. It wasn’t so, but it gave me an enormous amount of confidence.”

— Maeve Binchy

81. “I believed that old people never laughed. I thought they sighed a lot and groaned. They walked with sticks, and they didn’t like children on bicycles or roller skates or with big dogs.”

— Maeve Binchy

82. “I’m a great will maker. I’ve made my will every year since I was 21.”

— Maeve Binchy

83. “I love thriller writers. My favourites are Harlan Coban, Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Kathy Reichs and Ed McBain.”

— Maeve Binchy

84. “I don’t think we should spend any time wandering around that remote possibility. It’s nice of you to wish me well, but actually I find it unbearably patronizing.”

— Maeve Binchy

85. “In my stories, whenever there’s somebody wonderful and charming and bright and intelligent, that’s me!”

— Maeve Binchy

86. “I’m particularly fond of boned chicken breasts with a little garlic under the flesh and cooked in a casserole for 40 minutes with a jar of olives, some cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of olive oil.”

— Maeve Binchy

87. “I thought it must be desperate to be old. To wake up in the morning and remember that you were ancient – and so behave that way. I thought old people were full of aches and pains and horrible illnesses.”

— Maeve Binchy

88. “Problems don’t solve themselves neatly like that, due to a set of coincidences. Problems are solved by making decisions. Erika had always said that, and he had thought she was being doctrinaire. But it was true. Deciding not to change anything was a decision in itself. He hadn’t fully understood this before.”

— Maeve Binchy

89. “Any one could write a book,” said the taxi driver. ” Yes, they could, but they DON’T,” said Maeve Binchy.”

— Maeve Binchy

90. “Eve showed Aidan how to rake the range. “I think when we’re married we might have something more modern,” he grumbled. “No, surely with the eight children we can have them stoking it, going up the chimney even.”

— Maeve Binchy

91. “Is there anything more harsh in this life than to be misjudged, and have one’s motives entirely misunderstood?”

— Maeve Binchy

92. “Most people had nobody to share excitements and to celebrate with.”

— Maeve Binchy

93. “What part of the human mind or body was so inefficient that it could make you think you loved someone so wildly unsuitable?”

— Maeve Binchy

94. “There were women who fussed about their homes as if they thought life were a permanent examination where they would be found wanting.”

— Maeve Binchy