“ When I got up this morning the sea was full of sun pennies - and now it all seems to be covered in lemon scrim. Writers ought to live far inland or next to the city dump, if they are ever to get any w… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ But you want to know about the influence of books on my life, and as I’ve said, there was only one. Seneca. Do you know who he was? He was a Roman philosopher who wrote letters to imaginary friendstel… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ What a blight that woman is. Do you happen to know why? I lean toward a malignant fairy at her christening. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I wish I’d known those words on the day I watched those German troops land, plane-load after plane-load of them—and come off ships down in the harbor! All I could think of was damn them, damn them, ov… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ Yesterday, Amelia and Kit came over for supper, and we took a blanket down to the beach afterward to watch the moon rise. Kit loves to do that, but she always falls asleep before it is fully rise, and… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I don't know as much about children as I would like to. I am godmother to a wonderful three-year-old boy named dominic, the son of my friend Sophie. They live in Scotland, near Oban, and I don't get t… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ All my life I thought that the story was over when the hero and heroine were safely engaged -- after all, what's good enough for Jane Austen ought to be good enough for anyone. But it's a lie. The sto… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I did not want to spend my time reading about people who never were, doing things they never did. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ Now that I think about it, maybe he is a werewolf. I can picture him lunging over the moors in hot pursuit of his prey, and I'm certain that he wouldn't think twice about eating an innocent bystander.… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I did not throw 'The Shepherd Boy Sings in the Valley of Humiliation' at the audience. I threw it at the elocution mistress. I meant to cast it at her feet, but I missed. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I have gone to [this bookshop] for years, always finding the one book I wanted - and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrical… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ Then I imagined a lifetime of having to cry to get him to be kind, and I went back to no again. Mary Ann Shaffer
“ Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone new, that person's name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson… Mary Ann Shaffer
“ What on earth did you say to Isola? She stopped in on her way to pick up Pride and Prejudice and to berate me for never telling her about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Why hadn't she known there wer… Mary Ann Shaffer
