Paula Daly > Quotes

“I used to think it bordered on tragedy the way families lose touch, the way people sever ties, putting a pretty place to live above being together. But now I realize that's just how people like it. They don't always want to be together.”
― Paula Daly, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

“Human beings were so full of emotion. That was the problem. They could kill for a reason that to them felt like the only reason and to the rest of the rational thinking population felt like no reason at all.”
― Paula Daly, The Trophy Child

“If you bungle raising your children,’ she said, ‘I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.”
― Paula Daly, Keep Your Friends Close

“I’m not saying, “Hey, isn’t my life great, isn’t yours rubbish?” Just that I try to spend my days doing as many of the things that I enjoy and hardly any time doing the things I don’t.’ ‘Such as working,’ I said. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Such as that.”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made

“This is what the brain does. It looks for a way out rather than face the appalling truth. It searches out rabbit holes it may have missed. Finds weak spots in reality. It goes back over events as though they are happening for the first time, as though it may actually alter the course of those events.”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made

“Never assume,’ he used to say, during experiments, ‘because to assume makes an ASS out of U and ME.”
― Paula Daly, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

“dog’s name is only important to the owner. The dog will answer to anything and couldn’t care less what you call it.”
― Paula Daly, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

“face lifting”
― Paula Daly, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

“Never assume, he used to say, during experiments, because to assume makes an ASS out of U and ME.”
― Paula Daly, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

“Joanne lo achacaba a que las mujeres de hoy tenían más dinero a su disposición. Las de la generación de su madre no salían a emborracharse de esa manera porque no había dinero con el que emborracharse.”
― Paula Daly, ¿Y tú qué clase de madre eres?

“This is what parenting involved: hard decisions. She was his mother, she reminded herself. He didn't have to like her.”
― Paula Daly, The Trophy Child

“These days, it was all about showcasing your abilities to get that elusive university place. Problem was, instead of making these kids stand out as individuals, as leaders, in Noel’s view all it showed was that they could bear more drudgery than the average child.”
― Paula Daly, The Trophy Child

“I found that, with more time available, I did in fact spend less money. I was better prepared, and instead of life being one frantic whirlwind, meeting myself coming backwards, throwing cash at things just to get through, my days were more manageable. Peaceful. There was happiness to be found in doing the simple stuff.”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made

“Peculiar, isn’t it, how an elderly woman over-revving her Fiat Panda’s 900cc engine is mocked heartily by people but doing the exact same thing in a performance car commands general respect?”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made

“I used to smoke. Right at that moment I missed it like never before. It was the first thing I used to do when faced with a problem, a situation I found difficult. Light up, stand outside the back door, take a few deep inhalations, and the problem didn’t seem quite so insurmountable.”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made

“It’s what Malkovich says in his review that highlights the reason I read. He says everyone is so dull nowadays. Basically, everyone’s so frightened of upsetting other people, there are no characters left any more.”
― Paula Daly, The Mistake I Made