Barbara Pym

I suppose an unmarried woman just over thirty, who lives alone and has no apparent ties, must expect to find herself involved or interested in other people's business, and if she is also a clergyman's daughter then one might really say that there is no hope for her.

I had always disliked the idea of separateness, of being in a category and somehow different because of it.

It was the kind of voice that suggested that common sense and efficiency were the mainsprings of her character.

It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or a dessert.

I had not thought of myself as being particularly lonely, but it is surprising how much you miss the companionship of a married man.

I felt that he was a man who might have many friends, but not one confidante.

It was a depressing thought, but there it was: either you had to be married or give the impression that you were. The alternative was to be regarded as a failure.

It was a relief to turn away from these domestic matters to those of the church, where one could be detached, critical, even unkind, without any danger of arousing personal feeling.

I had never really come to terms with being an only child, and it was something I resented.

I had always been glad that I was not attractive to the opposite sex and I had always thought that men were rather silly to be attracted by women.

I wondered what he had hoped for in his marriage and what he had found. Perhaps he had expected his wife to be a mother to him and to look after him.

Men do not like women who are too clever. They like women to be docile and helpless, as though they needed to be taken care of.