Paula Quotes & Sayings

The last thing I need is rest. — Paula Hawkins

When a woman extends her hand for you to shake it, then you shake her hand. You do not turn it up and kiss it. And it is just so creepy. Because, you know, I handed it at this angle. I handed it at the handshake angle and so I'm not giving it to you to do whatever you want with it. I'm not loaning it to you. It's like if somebody borrowed your lawnmower and you're assuming they're going to use it to mow their lawn. You don't want to find out later they put it in the ocean! — Paula Poundstone

Memories, made to last forever. — Paula Morris

I want to seduce the audience. If they can go along for a ride they wouldn't ordinarily take, or don't even know they're taking, then they might see highly charged political issues in a new and unexpected way ... The theatre is now so afraid to face its social demons that we've given that responsibility over to film. But it will always be harder to deal with certain issues in the theatre. The live event - being watched by people as we watch - makes it seem all the more dangerous. — Paula Vogel

Mary Lovell's Straight On Till Morning: The Life of Beryl Markham was the first biography to bring Beryl to light, in 1987, and her pioneering efforts and careful research have been crucial to my own and other writers' abilities to imagine Beryl's life. Mary Lovell also compiled Beryl Markham's stories in The Splendid Outcast, a collection that wouldn't have been available otherwise, and for that — Paula McLain

This is what marriage is - safe, warm, comfortable. Tom — Paula Hawkins

I was thinking back to all the time in the gym, working hard, and that spurred me on [winning New York marathon just ten months after giving birth — Paula Radcliffe

For all her faults, it was actually my mom who instilled in me a love of reading, and books, for which I will always be grateful. She's a complete bibliophile, so I've pretty much grown up around libraries and books. — Paula Gruben

He's taken a shower, washed me off his skin. He looks better for it, but he won't look me in the eye when he asks if I'd like a coffee. This isn't what I wanted: none of this is right. I don't want to do this. I don't want to lose control again. — Paula Hawkins

Far away, to an infinite world I escape. I'm clear and calm, I'm unafraid. Sunless days, in my sheltered milkyway. In Saturn's rings I feel no pain. — Paula Cole

I have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts. — Paula Hawkins

It seems to me that dealing with little boys is a lot like playing poker. You need to know when to hold them, when to fold them, and when to walk away. But the most important thing you need to know is, oral contraceptives are only 97 percent effective. — Paula Wall

We're like dominoes, Beckett and I. I've tipped us forward until everything is set in motion. I can't stop us from colliding. I should enjoy the fall while it lasts. But I know the end is coming too. The quiet. The day where everything has fallen and there's nothing left but a mess. — Rebecca Paula

I had my first kiss under a tree near the school. It was with a boy named Michael who rarely spoke, but he would sometimes give me one of the cookies from his lunch. Maybe it was the gifts that made me feel special? I don't know, but when our lips touched, it felt magical. — Paula Abdul

Growing up, I had a very busy social life. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something. — Paula Deen

On the way back down the road, he passes me in his car, our eyes meet for just a second and he smiles at me. — Paula Hawkins

One more day of drinking, perhaps, and then I'll get myself straight tomorrow. — Paula Hawkins

Isn't love a beautiful goddamn liar? — Paula McLain

He smiled and bent forward, a hand on each knee, his truculence gleaming through his smile like a stone under water. — Paula Fox

She's cuckoo, laying her egg in my nest. — Paula Hawkins

No matter what you do, you cannot change what has already happened. — Paula Renaye

It's funny that we think of libraries as quiet demure places where we are shushed by dusty, bun-balancing, bespectacled women. The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community. Librarians have stood up to the Patriot Act, sat down with noisy toddlers and reached out to illiterate adults. Libraries can never be shushed. — Paula Poundstone

But I did become sadder, and sadness gets boring after a while, for the sad person and for everyone around them. — Paula Hawkins

At Equator Ranch a decade before, his debut lambing had turned out only six surviving animals of four thousand ewes. Undaunted, he had burned through more of his inheritance (eighty thousand pounds, some claimed), replaced his stock, learned his hard lessons, and was now the most successful large-scale rancher in all of Kenya. Not — Paula McLain

When you wish upon a star, you just might become one. — Paula Abdul

Those early days in Paris were nearly forty years behind him and yet, in the final pages he writes of Hadley, I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her. — Paula McLain

And why is Saint Paula a Saint? She dumps her four kids at a convent. She runs off to Hajira with Saint Jerome. How is that a saint?
You've got shitty mothers all over America who would love to dump their kids and travel. — Amy Bloom

None of my characters seem to have had sex yet - I haven't written about that. And I wouldn't want to deal with what's happening in Oregon - the school shootings. — Paula Danziger

He had writing the way other people had religion — Paula McLain

I've no desire to do one of those 50-mile races like the Comrades or anything like that. — Paula Radcliffe

I wake up every morning happy for where I am in life. It's not all about the cooking, but the fact that I can contribute by using my influence to help people all over the country. In the last two years, my partners and I have fed more than 10 million hungry people by bringing meat to food banks. — Paula Deen

You can't become a winner overnight, or even in a couple of years-it takes time ... You will lose races and you will have to accept that, learn from it and believe that you'll win the next one, knowing that you'll probably lose that as well. All the time you have to keep believing that one day you will win. — Paula Radcliffe

Yes. And Paula's a bitch," I said without preamble. "You mean Miss Mint Julep Ladygirl Fiddle-dee-dee? Yeah. Screw her. — C.D. Reiss

Happiness is so awfully complicated, but freedom isn't. You're either tied down or you're not. — Paula McLain

I'm a mother, I'm a journalist, I'm an American; I'm all of those things, and it really complicates your job when you have all these things come into play. — Paula Zahn

No matter how you look, we all hurt the same, cry the same, and feel joy the same. — Paula Patton

My choreography suits men very well, and the women who can do it are damn hard, strong dancers. — Paula Abdul

The position of First Lady has no rules, just precedent, so its evolution has been at a virtual standstill for years. If Martha Washington didn't do it, then no one is sure it should be done. — Paula Poundstone

As my creator, God knows better than I do what will truly make me happy. — Paula Hendricks

I am old enough to know that victory is often a thing deferred, and rarely at the summit of courage ... What is at the summit of courage, I think, is freedom ... the freedom that comes with the knowledge that no earthly thing can break you. — Paula Giddings

Gay Republicans, how exactly does that work? 'We disapprove of our own lifestyle. We beat ourselves up in parking lots. — Paula Poundstone

Remember, when something leaves your life, God is making room for something much better to enter! Get ready! — Paula White

It was the end of Ernest's struggle with apprenticeship, and an end to other things as well. He would never again be unknown. We would never again be this unhappy. — Paula McLain

My job is what millions of people do for recreation. How can you not like that? — Paula Creamer

There was no way to grasp the reality of the present which slid away each second, invisible as air; reality only existed after the fact, in one's vision of the past. — Paula Fox

I didn't expect to be doing a whole bunch of Amber Browns. And because it was just one book, and the father had moved away, I didn't realize I was going to have to deal more with shared custody, divorce and all those issues. — Paula Danziger

Cassoulet, like life itself, is not so simple as it seems. — Paula Wolfert

I got a call to come in and meet Fox, and the rest is history. — Paula Abdul

It's a little-known linguistic curiosity that the name Jehovah or Jaweh is the same name as Eve; Havva, the counterpart name in Farsi, the language spoken by the Persians, means either Jaweh or Eve. — Paula Gunn Allen

Be culturally literate, because if you don't have any understanding of the world you live in and the culture you live in, you're not going to express anything to anybody else. — Paula Scher

She made a mistake. It happens. We are none of us perfect. — Paula Hawkins

He finishes his beer and rolls the empty bottle across the table. With a sad shake of his head, he gets to his feet, comes over to me and holds out his hands. "Come on," he says. "Grab hold. Come on, Rach, up you — Paula Hawkins

At an early age Jesse often said he wanted to be a soldier, and before long he was one. He was there with his military brotherhood, fighting terrorism there so we wouldn't have to fight it here. — Paula Gonzalez

For an athlete, the biggest pressure comes from within. You know what you want to do and what you're capable of. — Paula Radcliffe

It was terrible to feel so empty, as if I were nothing. Why couldn't I be happy? And just what was happines anyway? — Paula McLain

I said, I'm Little Red Riding Hood' Paula gave him a seductive curtsy. 'You know, like in the fairy tale, but much naughtier.'

Duncan meandered in her direction with an odd, if not troubling expression, as if he knew something she didn't. It quickly faded, becoming a sly grin.

'So I guess that makes me the big bad wolf then, doesn't it? — Johnny Stone

You are holding in your hands not only a book of readings and instruction for the journey, but one monastic's heart of love held out to a searching world. — Paula D'Arcy

Years ago I read an interview with Paula Fox in which she said that in writing, truth is just as important as story. Reading that interview was the first time I really understood that there's no point in trying to impress people with my cleverness when I can just try to write honestly about what matters most to me. — Molly Antopol

I don't try to intellectualize characters too much. But I always think of the audience. I always make sure that my characters are likeable. — Paula Patton

More and more I find myself at a loss for words and didn't want to hear other people talking either. Their conversations seemed false and empty. I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone. — Paula McLain

I quit! I feel so much better, as if anything is possible. I'm free! — Paula Hawkins

I know a little bit about handicapping. If the horse has an IV, you want to stay - away from it. — Paula Poundstone

I like to cook; it is, for me, a happy combination of mindlessness and purpose. — Paula Fox

But then I think, this happens sometimes, doesn't it? People you have a history with, they won't let you go, and as hard as you might try, you can't disentangle yourself, can't set yourself free. Maybe after a while you just stop trying. — Paula Hawkins

And what movies we saw! All the actors and actresses whose photographs I collected, with their look of eternity! Their radiance, their eyes, their faces, their voices, the suavity of their movements! Their clothes! Even in prison movies, the stars shone in their prison clothes as if tailors had accompanied them in their downfall. — Paula Fox

When I begin a story at my desk, the window to my back, the path is not there. As I start to walk, I make the path. — Paula Fox

What if you let go of your excuses? — Paula Heller Garland

It is quiet at home today. I got my wisdom tooth extracted. — Andy Paula

Life is too short to follow the speed limit — Paula Antonia Purpera

I've fallen. I must have slipped. Hit my head on something. I think I'm going to be sick. Everything is red. I can't get up. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl . . . Three for a girl. I'm stuck on three, I just can't get any further. My head is thick with sounds, my mouth thick with blood. Three for a girl. I can hear the magpies - they're laughing, mocking me, a raucous cackling. A tiding. Bad tidings. I can see them now, black against the sun. Not the birds, something else. Someone's coming. Someone is speaking to me. Now look. Now look what you made me do. — Paula Hawkins

I'm kind of fascinated by Paula Deen. I've been to her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in Savannah. My friend was studying in the area, and we ate at her restaurant, and it was right at the cusp where Paula Deen became Paula Deen. — Parvesh Cheena

I've always had a propensity for getting the cursive down pretty well. What it evolved into was my pseudo-waitressing job when I was auditioning. I didn't wait tables. I did calligraphy for the invitations for, like, Robin Thicke and Paula Patton's wedding. — Meghan Markle

I fear the future. — Paula Creamer

Beau never stays within the lines. He's not just my roommate, he moves through Portland as if it's his city, as though all the people at this party are his best friends, as if he invented beer pong, even. He's that drop of water that runs and seeps into the paper, smearing the other watercolors until they've run wild as well. — Rebecca Paula

I hate it when my hair is engaged in unauthorized activities. — Paula Poundstone

I told everybody that I was going to be an actress in Hollywood one day. People looked at me like I was crazy. — Paula Garces

He closed his eyes so that he didn't have to watch me choke. — Paula Hawkins

Freedom is a public library. — Paula Fox

Once I accepted the fact that I was bad luck, I shied away from group activities. And groups. And activities. I started spending a lot of time in my room, tucked under my covers reading books. There's only so much damage a book can do, and I wasn't worried about hurting myself. Accidentally hurting yourself is way better than hurting other people.
Sure, I got lonely for a while. But getting invited to slumber parties just wasn't worth the stress of wondering if I might accidentally burn down the house with my flat iron or be the only survivor of a freak sleepover massacre. And loneliness is just like everything else - if you endure it long enough, you get used to it. — Paula Stokes

Outside the gates of the finca, watching the passing rows of tin-roofed shacks which represented the residential section of San Francisco de Paula, I began to think about The Old Man and the Sea, and I realized it was Ernest's counterattack against those who had assaulted him for Across the River. It was an absolutely perfect counterattack and I envisioned a row of snickering carpies bearing the likenesses of Dwight Macdonald and Louis Kronenberger and E.B. White, who in the midst of cackling, "Through! Washed Up! Kaput!" suddenly grab their groins and keel over. It is a rather elementary military axiom that he who attacks must anticipate the counterattack, but the critics, poor boys, would never make General Staff. As Ernest once said, "One battle doesn't make a campaign but critics treat one book, good or bad, like a whole goddamn war. — A. E. Hotchner

he grinned a grin that began in his eyes and went everywhere at once. It was devastating. — Paula McLain

I have my new food line in the works - I think it's over 200 items. Hopefully I can make a difference; it's delicious food that's just so easy. I think it'll help people enjoy their lives ... it's good! — Paula Deen

I've been thinking that when people break up there's usually a reason, and whatever it is, it's still going to be there even if we do get back together. — Paula Stokes

(If the expected does not occur - in event, reward, or punishment - the work may seem lacking in artistic unity, coherence, and integrity and can sorely surprise or disappoint the audience.) — Paula LaRocque

I think it's important to find the little things in everyday life that make you happy. — Paula Cole

A new thing is good, though it be a sore place. — Paula McLain

How can something feel so crucial in the moment and then seem completely trivial after the fact? — Paula Stokes

I'm still trying to find out who Paula Cole is. I always am - and I always will be - my real, inside self, which has no name. — Paula Cole

My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.' — Paula Poundstone

The farther we've gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we've come to need Halloween.

October Dreams: A celebration of
Halloween — Paula Guran

It's strange to hear myself described as someone with a big heart. I've blocked out a lot of the memories of L.A., but perhaps in some ways the girl I used to be was better than the girl I am now. Now I feel so cold, almost incapable of loving anything. — Paula Stokes

I don't believe for a second that weightlifting is a sport. They pick up a heavy thing and put it down again. To me, that's indecision. — Paula Poundstone

I found that when I went from Albany to Savannah, that I needed to put that white rice away, and I needed to turn that into Savannah red rice because they were big into that sausage, tomato-y, bell pepper-y rice mixture. — Paula Deen

Now I'm starting, relatively, to think straight again. I live one day at a time, one hour at a time. What makes it all worthwhile is my children. — Paula Yates

Ben isn't hard to manage, but Blix's wife, Karen, likes the title too much to part with it. He's made her a baroness." She sighed. "The whole thing has got rather baroque. Karen and I are friends, or were, in any case. Blix asked her for a divorce and told her he was in love with me, probably thinking it would soften the blow." She shook her head. "Now she won't speak to me. — Paula McLain

small gully where the red mud had dried and cracked in a system of parched veins. — Paula McLain

Women typically go through four developmental stages; 1. Gotta get a man. 2. Gotta get a house. 3. Gotta get a kid. 4. Gotta get a life. Stage four is commonly referred to as the change of life, or the clinical term men-on-pause. — Paula Wall

Break the rules, stand apart, ignore your head, and follow your heart, — Paula Abdul

I'll probably never have children because I don't believe in touching people for any reason. — Paula Poundstone

I didn't feel old enough to be anyone's wife, or that I knew enough or had lived enough, or understood the essential things. I didn't know how to say any of this to Jock, either. That I was afraid of the promises we'd made. That late at night as I lay beside him in bed I felt lonely and numb, as if some part of me had died. — Paula McLain