Candace Bushnell Quotes & Sayings

Well in the book Carrie was my alter ego. In real life, Sarah Jessica and I don't look anything alike. But people do say that we sound alike. Sarah Jessica is an adorable girl and she is very funny. — Candace Bushnell

New York is a city where people are ambitious. They want things. — Candace Bushnell

You choose the end of the summer to fall in love with this guy
because secretly, you don't want it to last. — Candace Bushnell

From my experience, honey, if he seems too good to be true - he probably is. — Candace Bushnell

His mother had become impossible, as, he supposed, all elderly people were when they refused to accept that their lives had to change. — Candace Bushnell

She could tell by Philip's attitude that his writing wasn't going well again. He was joyous when it was and miserable when it wasn't. — Candace Bushnell

In life,there are only four kinds of girls:
The girl who played with fire.
The girl who opened Pandora's Box.
The girl who gave Adam the apple.
And the girl whose best friend stole her boyfriend. — Candace Bushnell

The women I know who have children and have careers, they seem to be very happy. They love their children and they love their jobs. But happiness comes out of being willing to do your work in your twenties to find out who you are, what you love. — Candace Bushnell

Sebastian (Se-bastard) is a Scorpio.. — Candace Bushnell

You don't want to peak in high school. If you do, the rest of your life is a disaster. — Candace Bushnell

Pay him a decent salary and work him hard. That way he won't have enough time to write anything on the side. But don't pay him so much that he can save up money to quit. — Candace Bushnell

It's always the people who don't want things who get them. — Candace Bushnell

I wouldn't be in shallow relationships, so I do nothing. I have no sex and no romance. Who needs it.? Who needs all these potential problems like disease and pregnancy.? I have no problems. No fear of disease, psychopaths, or stalkers. Why not just be with your friends and have real conversations and a good time.? — Candace Bushnell

We'll then," Enjd said. "What's the problem?"
"This," Mindy said. She opened her hand and held up a tiny green plastic toy solider thrusting a bayonet.
"I don't understand," Enid said.
"This morning, when I opened my door to get the newspaper, I found a whole troop of them arranged on the mat."
"And you think Paul Rice did it," Enid said skeptically.
"I don't think he did it. I know he did it," Mindy said. "He told me if I didn't approve his air conditioners, it was war ... — Candace Bushnell

You need characters who want things. They want love, they want recognition, they want happiness. — Candace Bushnell

Why do magazine do this to women?" Miranda complains now, glaring at Vogue. "It's all about creating insecurity. Trying to make women feel like they're not good enough. And when women don't feel like they're good enough guess what?" "What?" I (Carrie) ask, picking up the grocery bad, "Men win. That's how they keen us down" she concludes — Candace Bushnell

Sometimes the best thing to do is to
pretend it didn't happen — Candace Bushnell

Why do I keep evading my work? Is it because I'm afraid of being confronted by my lack of abilities? — Candace Bushnell

I've always been fascinated by young women who come to New York. The characters in 'Lipstick Jungle' were once young women who came to New York and we see their early experiences through flashbacks. — Candace Bushnell

Being a writer
is all about having something to say. And it'd better be interesting. If you don't have anything
interesting to say, don't become a writer. Become something useful. Like a doctor. — Candace Bushnell

I have this theory: You can get away with anything as long as you act like you're not doing anything wrong. — Candace Bushnell

Why shouldn't I? I demand silently. Why shouldn't I become a famous writer? Like Norman Mailer. Or Philip Roth. And F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemmingway and all those other men. Why can't I be like them? I mean, what is the point of becoming a writer if no one reads what you've written?
Damn Viktor Greene and The New School. Why do I have to keep proving myself all of the time? Why can't I be like L'il, with everyone praising and encouraging me? Or Rainbow, with her sense of entitlement. I bet Viktor Greene never asked Rainbow why she wanted to be a writer.
Or what if-I wince-Viktor Greene is right? I'm not a writer after all. — Candace Bushnell

For me, having it all is being paid to write novels. — Candace Bushnell

Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.
-Carrie Bradshaw — Candace Bushnell

A man came up to her. Expensively tailored suit. Okay, he wasn't exactly a man because he was only thirty-five. But he was trying. — Candace Bushnell

It was ironic, but when you scratched the surface, most successful men were working for one thing only
to retire
and the sooner the better. Whereas women were the complete opposite. She had never heard a woman say she was working so she could retire to a desert island or to live on a boat. It was probably, she thought, because most women didn't think they deserved to do nothing. — Candace Bushnell

I'm looking forward to writing more novels for young adults. — Candace Bushnell

All men are a disappointment. No matter what anyone says. — Candace Bushnell

Sex. It's the biggest sham of all. I mean, your whole life, all you ever hear is how you're supposed to save yourself for marriage. And how it's so special. And then you finally do it. And you're like, that's it? This is what everyone's been raving about? — Candace Bushnell

You have to let go of who you were to become who you will be. — Candace Bushnell

Maybe you can't have it both ways. His life and your life. How do you put two lives together, anyway? — Candace Bushnell

It's telling yourself that you want the things that society tells you you should want. women thikn that survival depends on conformity. but for some women, conformity is death. it's a death to the soul. the soul, "she said, "is a precious thing. when you live a lie, you damage the soul. — Candace Bushnell

There are a lot of women writers who never get married and don't have kids. I am married, but I didn't marry until I was 43. I knew when I was young that if I had to make a choice between being married and being a writer, I would have chosen to be a writer. I think it's a career where you have to put the career first. I don't have kids but - and luckily everyone isn't like this - I think if you have that passion, in a way, your career is your child. — Candace Bushnell

I sometimes read in a gossip column that I was at a party when I was in Europe at the time. It sometimes feels I've got a Doppelganger somewhere. — Candace Bushnell

My anger is like some rudimentary, single-celled beast, an exploding virus of fury that paralyses rational thought and blinds me to everything except one single goal ... — Candace Bushnell

Parker was also proving my theory. For instance, when Parker and Roger first started seeing each other, Parker got sick. Roger went to his house to cook him dinner and take care of him. That would never happen with a straight guy. If a straight guy got sick and he'd just started dating a woman and she wanted to take care of him, — Candace Bushnell

When one good thing happened to you, other good things seemed to follow. — Candace Bushnell

It's hard to be careful, though, when you feel indestructible. — Candace Bushnell

Whoever we are here, we might be princesses somewhere else. Or writers. Or scientists. Or presidents. Or whatever the hell we want to be that everyone else says we can't. — Candace Bushnell

It was scary how a girl couldn't live without friends. — Candace Bushnell

Growing up, nobody I knew even knew a writer. So it was a big adventure and something that I've wrestled with my whole life. I think it's a journey worth taking, really finding out who you are and what you do well. — Candace Bushnell

The key to life is your attitude. Whether you're single or married or have kids or don't have kids, it's how you look at your life, what you make of it. It's about making the best of your life wherever you are in life. — Candace Bushnell

The fact that a man is open to being with an older woman suggests that he doesn't give a hang what other people think of him. More likely, he's confident, open-minded and willing to make his own rules. — Candace Bushnell

Life gives you lots of chances to screw up which means you have just as many chances to get it right. — Candace Bushnell

Don't you ever get scared?" I ask.
"Of what?" She says.
"Of not being good enough."
"You mean at writing?" L'il asks.
I nod. "What if I'm the only one who thinks I can do it and no one else does? What if I'm fooling myself-"
"Oh, Carrie." She smiles. "Don't you know that every writer feels that way? Fear is part of the job. — Candace Bushnell

I started working for the 'NY Observer' when I was 33. After I had been writing for them for about a year and a half the editor said, 'Your stories are the most talked about stories in the 'Observer'; you should have your own column.' — Candace Bushnell

Man may have discovered fire, but women discovered how to play with it. — Candace Bushnell

Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies. — Candace Bushnell

Rule number three: Best friends always think you deserve the best guy even if the best guy barely knows you exist. — Candace Bushnell

You can get used to anything, I guess, if you've been there enough. — Candace Bushnell

After all, it's woman, who decide, if a man is desirable or undesirable. — Candace Bushnell

Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder
no matter how old you became and how much you'd seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered. — Candace Bushnell

The most important thing in business is a persona, Nico,' he was fond of saying. 'People want to know immediately what they're dealing with. And when they think about you, you've got to stand out in their minds
like one of those characters in a novel. — Candace Bushnell

If a woman could take care of herself, would she still need a man? Would she even want one? And if she didn't want a man, what kind of woman would she be? Would she even be a woman? Because it seemed if you were a woman, the only thing you were really supposed to want was a man. — Candace Bushnell

If you believe in love, you're setting yourself up to be disappointed. — Candace Bushnell

I can safely conclude that we are single because we want to be. — Candace Bushnell

I was a freelancer all through my twenties. I did about one story a month and I wanted to write fiction, so the stories that I would do were precursors to 'Sex and the City.' — Candace Bushnell

If you smile, even if you're feeling bad, the action of the muscles will trick your brain into thinking you're happy — Candace Bushnell

If I'm with a man, is that going to prevent me from achieving my goal? What sacrifices will I have to make in terms of being myself, if I'm with a man? Something that young women find out really quickly is that when you start dating, all of a sudden you're supposed to have a role. You're not allowed to just be yourself. — Candace Bushnell

There are worse things than being thirty-five, single, and female in New York. Like: Being twenty-five, singled, and female in New York. It's a rite of passage few women would want to repeat. It's about sleeping with the wrong men, wearing the wrong clothes, having the wrong roommate, saying the wrong thing, being ignored, getting fired, not being taken seriously, and generally being treated like shit. But it's necessary. — Candace Bushnell

I actually don't shop very much. I have a tendency to rotate a few pairs of ripped jeans and an old cashmere sweater. — Candace Bushnell

I wish I was one of those persnickety types who buys guidebooks and studies them, but I don't have the inclination or time. I'm more of a 'get on the plane, arrive at the destination and see what happens' kind of traveler. — Candace Bushnell

My decorating and renovation skills are nil - indeed, I once used a shower curtain from Pottery Barn as 'window dressing.' — Candace Bushnell

I love Chicago. I lived there briefly for three months and kept a boat under one of those space-age buildings. It was very Jetsons. — Candace Bushnell

I didn't want it to be this way."
"Yes, you did," she said, "because it is."
"I just want to be with someone normal," he said. "I just want to have a normal life."
"Excuse me," she said.
"You're a little crazy," he said. "You're too old to act the way you do. You've got to grow up. You've got to take care of yourdelf. I'm afraid for you. You can't think that people are going to take care of you all the time. — Candace Bushnell

He still went out nearly every night. I thought, is this what he's going to do when we have the baby? Have I made another terrible mistake with a man? You don't really know a man until you have a child with him. Then you see so much. Is he kind? Is he tolerant? Is he loving? Or is he immature and egotistical and selfish? When you have a child, it can go two ways with your husband: You love him even more, or you lose all respect for him. And if you lose respect, there's no way to get it back ... — Candace Bushnell

Patent leather wedges-they were big when I went to prom! — Candace Bushnell

Have I become the girl who waits by the phone, hoping it will ring, who asks a friend to dial her number to make sure the phone is working? — Candace Bushnell

I'm certainly not going to put my life on hold for him. — Candace Bushnell

No matter what you think you can be, when you're forced to stop and look at where you actually are, it's pretty depressing.
Sometimes, there is no escaping the truth — Candace Bushnell

I can't wait to get out of the house. I can't wait to get out of here. I've been telling myself this all week. The 'getting out of here' part is unspecified, though. Maybe I simply want to get away from life — Candace Bushnell

I have this theory: If you forgive someone, they can't hurt you anymore. — Candace Bushnell

If a man doesn't ask you to marry him
or at least live with him
after two years, he never will. It means he's only interested in having a good time. — Candace Bushnell

What I have yet to see is a real woman choose a younger man because he spent six hours a day at the gym trying to sculpt his abs. — Candace Bushnell

The one thing you have to remember about labels is that they only matter if you let them stick. — Candace Bushnell

Sometimes I think all the trouble in the world is caused by men. If there were no men, women would always be happy. ~Carrie — Candace Bushnell

When you're alone, it's easier," she said a little wistfully. "You can do what you want. You don't have to go home. — Candace Bushnell

As long as you're neurotic and crazy, he's great. But once he solves all your problems, he becomes the problem. — Candace Bushnell

And if you were always spending your time getting over your past, how were you supposed to get on with your future? — Candace Bushnell

The only way to look at men is like they're electrons. They have all these charges sticking out, and they're always looking for a hole where they can put those charges. — Candace Bushnell

Just because someone is a girl doesn't mean she can't be tough and practical and have adventures. That's the way most girls are-until they get around guys. Then guys make them act all stupid. — Candace Bushnell

Retribution is tricky ... The insult isn't usually worth the risk of punishment. And eventually one learns that karma has a surprising way of taking care of these situations. All you have to do is sit back and watch. — Candace Bushnell

Some secrets are better left at that -as secrets. — Candace Bushnell

The universe may not always play fair, but at least it's got a hell of a sense of humor. — Candace Bushnell

Just because something doesn't last forever, it doesn't mean it wasn't meaningful while it did last. It doesn't mean it wasn't important. — Candace Bushnell

That's the difference between girls and women: Girls find men fascinating. Women know better. — Candace Bushnell

Maybe he's falling in love with the idea of falling in love with me. Maybe he wants to be in love with someone and I've ended up in the right place at the right time. — Candace Bushnell

We're comfortable with movie stars having money. We're comfortable with a woman marrying a rich guy and having money. We're not so comfortable with a woman independently working in business and making a lot of money. — Candace Bushnell

There is a thin line between attraction and repulsion — Candace Bushnell

Better alone than badly accompanied. — Candace Bushnell

On the other hand, it seemed to be working. For Samantha, anyway. And in comparison, my own relationship with Bernard was sorely lacking. Not only in sex, but in the simple fact that I still wasn't sure I was ever going to see him again. I guess the best thing about living with a guy is that you know you're going to see him again. I mean, he has to come home at some point, right? — Candace Bushnell

The minute you get engaged, you become public property. — Candace Bushnell

Who am I supposed to be again? Just be yourself. But who am I? — Candace Bushnell

Your moustache," I continue. "It's kind of like me wanting to be a writer. It's part of me. I don't know who I'd be if I didn't want to be a writer. — Candace Bushnell

Then why sell?" James had asked. "have to," Redmond said. "if I want to get married and have children and live in this city, I have to." "since when do you want to get married and have kids?" James asked. "since now. Life gets boring when you're middle-aged. You can't keep doing the same thing. You look like an asshole. You ever notice that?" Redmond had asked. — Candace Bushnell

If I didn't define who I was and what I wanted, then someone else would. — Candace Bushnell

This, Sebastian is no mere purse. And, you shouldn't call a handbag a purse ... a bag, on the other hand, is meant to be seen. — Candace Bushnell

All those men who end up disappointing you. After a while, you don't even want to have feelings anymore. You just want to get on with your life. — Candace Bushnell

He was juggling issues and solving problems, which was why his brain had no space left for memories. — Candace Bushnell

I don't go to parties to meet men. I go to parties to stand in a corner and watch people. — Candace Bushnell