Sue Townsend Quotes

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Sue Townsend

Profession : Novelist

Birth : April 2, 1946

Being poor with three small children is terrifying. You can't make any plans. You know you're not going on holiday, ever. There's no way you could ever afford driving lessons or a car. And the guilt I used to feel: they had holes in their shoes, and at one point, I had to send them to school wearing Wellingtons when the sun was shining.

Sue Townsend

I take life very seriously. I can laugh at it, because what else can you do? But it's a hard daily battle.

Sue Townsend

I'm getting to the end of my magnifying glasses now. One eye's gone completely. The other is gradually dimming. Dimming - that sounds very dramatic, doesn't it? I'm so lucky. I can still make a living - and the same kind of living.

Sue Townsend

Yes - I am usually overweight. I have had to be interested in diet because of being diabetic for 30 years and having kidney failure.

Sue Townsend

When I was a child, I dreaded blindness. We used to ask: 'Would we rather be blind or deaf?' I said I'd rather be blind, even though I was scared of it. I couldn't bear not being able to hear music or talk to people.

Sue Townsend

My second husband encouraged me to go to a writing group at our local theatre. It was my 'coming out of the closet' moment.

Sue Townsend

I usually listen to the same thing over and over again: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. And Leonard Cohen.

Sue Townsend

I always wanted to be Jo in 'Little Women.' She's a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I'm probably more like Madame Bovary.

Sue Townsend

I must have been a very strange child. I was very pretentious. Like Adrian Mole.

Sue Townsend

I am a very independent person, and I, you know, I maintain that independence, but, you know, certain things - I mean, it takes, you know, it's just much easier for other people if other people can help you every now and again.

Sue Townsend

In the early days, it was, you know, I used to weep while I was writing. I used to grab at any kind of anything, any hint, any tip of how to make it easy.

Sue Townsend

I've always been fascinated by totalitarian regimes. I'm not an admirer of them.

Sue Townsend

Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

Sue Townsend

My cream and black Aga. It is the heart of the house, and people congregate around it.

Sue Townsend

I used to think I had nice arms, but I don't even think that anymore.

Sue Townsend

I seem to be able to get depressed quite easily without any reason.

Sue Townsend

I do think that books, good books, free you. They make you feel a citizen of the world and things like class, sex and age don't matter. They're the greatest leveler.

Sue Townsend

I became an insomniac, really, hardly slept at all, didn't even try to. And it's carried on. I hate to say I only need as much sleep as Mrs. Thatcher, but I can cope really well on five hours.

Sue Townsend

In the playground, I always made people laugh; I used to charge them three pence for an impression of a teacher. It kept me in toffees.

Sue Townsend

I hate it when people call me a 'national treasure.' It takes away your bite and makes you feel like a harmless old golden Labrador.

Sue Townsend