Peter Mayle Quotes

25 quotes in 508 categories

• Day after day we looked for rain, and day after day we saw nothing but the sun. Lavender that we had planted in the spring…
• Depending on the inflection, ah bon can express shock, disbelief, indifference, irritation, or joy - a remarkable achievment for two short words.
• Sunglasses must be kept on until an acquaintance is identified at one of the tables, but one must not appear to be looking for company.…
• The day when a Frenchman switches from the formality of vous to the familiarity of tu is a day to be taken seriously. It is…
• I have a terrible weakness for collecting snatches of other people's conversations, and occasionally I'm rewarded with unusual fragments of knowledge. My favorite of the…
• Next to the defeated politician, the writer is the most vocal and inventive griper on earth. He sees hardship and unfairness wherever he looks. His…
• It is at a time like this, when crisis threatens the stomach, that the French display the most sympathetic side of their nature. Tell them…
• There is nothing like a comfortable adventure to put people in a good humor. . .
• Prescription for writer’s block: fear of poverty.
• I'd rather live precariously in my own office than comfortably in somebody else's.
• Why not make a daily pleasure out a daily necessity.
• Best advice I've ever received: Finish.
• Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.
• The funny thing in France is that writers are not allowed to retire, because the French government say you are still earning money from books…
• I am a great believer in people taking control of their own lives.
• I was lucky enough to spend some of my school days in Barbados, where my father was working, and this gave me a taste for…
• Sundays in France have a different atmosphere to other days, with fewer phone calls, no postman, no delivery men and no one banging on the…
• No matter what their background, the southern French are fascinated by food.
• Nowadays, if you have a journey, albeit a simple one, you consider yourself lucky if nothing happens.
• I left school at 16 and skipped university to work, initially as a waiter. I think I missed out on what would have been great…

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