Barbara Pym Quotes

Novel writing is a kind of private pleasure, even if nothing comes of it in worldly terms. — Barbara Pym

How absurd and delicious it is to be in love with somebody younger than yourself. Everybody should try it. — Barbara Pym

Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink. — Barbara Pym

I hope you don't mind tea in mugs,' she said, coming in with a try. 'I told you I was a slut. — Barbara Pym

It was only sometimes, when a spring day came in the middle of winter, that one had a sudden feeling that nothing was really impossible — Barbara Pym

I think just a cup of tea...' There was something to be said for tea and a comfortable chat about crematoria. — Barbara Pym

Inanimate objects were often so much nicer than people. — Barbara Pym

One did not drink sherry before the evening, just as one did not read a novel in the morning. — Barbara Pym

You lose your sense of perspective when you get too close, and the charm goes. — Barbara Pym

for I had observed that men did not usually do things unless they liked doing them. — Barbara Pym

but it's a good feeling and one does so like to have that. — Barbara Pym

Yes! In the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, Dotting the shoreless watery wild, We mortal millions live ALONE, — Barbara Pym

I stretched out my hand towards the little bookshelf where I kept cookery and devotional books, the most comfortable bedside reading. — Barbara Pym

Also, it was the morning and it seemed a little odd to be thinking about poetry before luncheon. — Barbara Pym

Dear Mildred,' he smiled, 'you are not the kind of person to expect things as your right even though they may be. — Barbara Pym

Those quotations were really quite obscure. Anyone can see that he is a very well read man. — Barbara Pym

Perhaps it's better to be unhappy than not to feel anything at all. — Barbara Pym

Robina Fairfax's mouth opened in a smile which revealed teeth that could only have been her own, so variously coloured and oddly shaped were they. — Barbara Pym

Perhaps all love had something of the ridiculous in it. — Barbara Pym

I love Evensong. There's something sad and essentially English about it. — Barbara Pym

It seems to be a kind of lounge,' she added, tripping over a small footstool. The floor seemed to be littered with them, like toadstools. — Barbara Pym

Once you get into the habit of falling in love you will find that it happens quite often and means less and less,' said — Barbara Pym

Life is cruel and we do terrible things to each other. — Barbara Pym

She had always been an unashamed reader of novels ... — Barbara Pym

Dulcie always found a public library a little upsetting, for one saw so many odd people there ... — Barbara Pym

The burden of keeping three people in toilet paper seemed to me rather a heavy one. — Barbara Pym

Just the kind of underclothes a person like me might wear, I thought dejectedly, so there is no need to describe them. — Barbara Pym

There are various ways of mending a broken heart, but perhaps going to a learned conference is one of the more unusual. — Barbara Pym

She had now reached an age when one starts looking for a husband rather more systematically than one does at nineteen or even at twenty-one. — Barbara Pym

There are some things too dreadful to be revealed, and it is even more dreadful how, in spite of our better instincts,we long to know about them. — Barbara Pym

There are no sick people in North Oxford. They are either dead or alive.It's sometimes difficult to tell the difference , that's all. — Barbara Pym

However romantically ill John might look, it seemed that he had nothing worse than an unromantic cold. — Barbara Pym

I realised that one might love him secretly with no hope of encouragement, which can be very enjoyable for the young or inexperienced. — Barbara Pym

Well, then, we may as well find somewhere to have tea. After spiritual comes bodily refreshment. — Barbara Pym

It's so good for you to think of nothing. I wish you could do it more often. — Barbara Pym

Virtue is an excellent thing and we should all strive after it, but it can sometimes be a little depressing. — Barbara Pym

But at least it made one realize that life still held infinite possibilities for change. — Barbara Pym

Yes, I like sitting at a table in the sun,' I agreed, 'but I'm afraid I'm one of those typical English tourists who always wants a cup of tea. — Barbara Pym

Perhaps long spaghetti is the kind of thing that ought to be eaten quite alone with nobody to watch one's struggles. Surely — Barbara Pym

in something for him, so I bought some white — Barbara Pym

This may sound a cynical thing to say, but don't you think men sometimes leave difficulties to be solved by other people or to solve themselves? After — Barbara Pym

What a good thing there is no marriage or giving in marriage in the after-life; it will certainly help to smooth things out. — Barbara Pym

If only one could clear out one's mind and heart as ruthlessly as one did one's wardrobe. — Barbara Pym

Oh, God, yes! You'd hate sharing a kitchen with me. I'm such a slut,' she said, almost proudly. — Barbara Pym