Top 8 Quotes by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Sometimes being a good mother gets in the way of being a good person.

Sometimes being a good mother gets in the way of being a good person.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Mom, Mother, Way

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (1998). “A Woman of Independent Means”, p.193, Penguin

Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Time, Self, Thieves

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (1998). “A Woman of Independent Means”, p.89, Penguin

We are all so much more complicated than we allow ourselves to appear.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Complicated

But a piece of paper can be a powerful presence. I have always had enormous respect for the written word and invariably find a letter more revealing than a face-to-face conversation. In a strange way I suspect I will get to know you better at a distance than I would if you had stayed at home.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Powerful, Distance, Home

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (1998). “A Woman of Independent Means”, p.172, Penguin

Sometimes I think it is ... frustration with life as it is lived day to day that compels me to write such long letters to people who seldom reply in kind, if indeed they reply at all. Somehow by compressing and editing the events of my life, I infuse them with a dramatic intensity totally lacking at the time, but oddly enough I find that years later what I remember is not the event as I lived it but as I described it in a letter.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Writing, Frustration, Thinking

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (1998). “A Woman of Independent Means”, p.168, Penguin

Whenever life gets to be too much for me, I have a hard time keeping my eyes open. Sleeping is cheaper and safer than drinking. It keeps you from saying or doing things you'll regret later, and though you may have nightmares, you won't wake up with a hangover. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Regret, Drinking, Hangover

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (1987). “Joanna's Husband and David's Wife”, Dell Publishing Company