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Top Peter Mayle Quotes

Browse top 30 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by Peter Mayle.

Favorite Peter Mayle Quotes

1. "Why not make a daily pleasure out a daily necessity." ~ Peter Mayle
2. "Best advice I've ever received: Finish." ~ Peter Mayle
3. "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. Instead, the impression should be that one is heading into the cafe to make a phone call to one's titled Italian admirer, when--quelle surprise!--one sees a friend. The sunglasses can then be removed and the hair tossed while one is persuaded to sit down." ~ Peter Mayle
4. "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 an unmistakable signal that he has decided - after weeks or months or sometimes years - that he likes you. It would be chulish and unfriendly of you not to return the compliment. And so, just when you are at last feeling comfortable with vous and all the plurals that go with it, you are thrust headlong in to the singular world of tu." ~ Peter Mayle
5. "I like to have my morning newspaper ironed before I read it. I like to have my shoes boned before they are polished. I like to sit in the back of the car and be driven. I like beds to be made, dishes to be washed, grass to be cut, drinks to be served, telephones to be answered, and common tasks to be dealt with invisibly and efficiently so that I can devote my time to major decisions like the choice of wines for dinner and who to vote for in the next election for the mayor of my village. That is life as it should be lived, and all it takes is money and servants." ~ Peter Mayle
6. "Oh, that,' he said. 'Poncet is grooming his ass." ~ Peter Mayle
7. "Beh oui. Better sticky than burned." ~ Peter Mayle
8. "Look at those vines,' he said. 'Nature is wearing her prettiest clothes.'The effect of this unexpectedly poetic observation was slight spoiled when Massot cleared his throat nosily and spat, but he was right;" ~ Peter Mayle
9. "We had to be up early in the morning. We had a goat race to go to... We asked the old man confident in the knowledge that he, like every Frenchman, would be an expert. "The goats who make the most droppings before the race are likely to do well. An empty goat is faster than a full goat. C'est logique." ~ Peter Mayle
10. "I called Monsieur Menicucci, and he asked anxiously about my pipes. I told him they were holding up well. "That pleases me," he said, "because it is minus five degrees, the roads are perilous, and I am fifty-eight years old. I am staying at home." He paused, then added, "I shall play the clarinet." ~ Peter Mayle
11. "He then expounded a remarkable theory, which had occurred to him while he was playing the clarinet during one of the power cuts that the French electricity board arranges at regular intervals. Electricity, he said, is a matter of science and logic. Classical music is a matter of art and logic. Vous voyez? Already one sees a common factor. And when you listen to the disciplined and logical progression of some of Mozart's work, the conclusion is inescapable: Mozart would have made a formidable electrician." ~ Peter Mayle
12. "Dar, bineîn?eles, spusese el, se ?tie ca englezii î?i omoara mieii de doua ori: o data când îi taie ?i a doua oara când îi gatesc." ~ Peter Mayle
13. "Only snobs kiss once, I was told, or those unfortunates who suffer from congenital froideur. I then saw what I assumed to be the correct procedure - the triple kiss, left-right-left, so I tried it on a Parisian friend. Wrong again. She told me that triple-kissing was a low Provençal habit, and that two kisses were enough among civilized people. The next time I saw my neighbor's wife, I kissed her twice. "Non," she said, "trois fois."I now pay close attention to the movement of the female head. If it stops swiveling after two kisses, I am almost sure I've filled my quota, but I stay poised for a third lunge just in case the head should keep moving." ~ Peter Mayle
14. "I am a great believer in people taking control of their own lives." ~ Peter Mayle
15. "I don't have a boss. Well, I have a boss: the public. If the public doesn't buy my books, I would be out of a job." ~ Peter Mayle
16. "I have a robust sense of humour which helps me deal with problems." ~ Peter Mayle
17. "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 hot weather." ~ Peter Mayle
18. "It's very nice to meet the people who read my books." ~ Peter Mayle
19. "No matter what their background, the southern French are fascinated by food." ~ Peter Mayle
20. "Nowadays, if you have a journey, albeit a simple one, you consider yourself lucky if nothing happens." ~ Peter Mayle
21. "One must never forget that life is unfair. But sometimes, with a bit of luck, this works in your favour." ~ Peter Mayle
22. "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 door." ~ Peter Mayle
23. "Very little happens in my books." ~ Peter Mayle
24. "You don't like it when a French housewife gets mad at you. If she gets steam behind her, she is an unstoppable creature." ~ Peter Mayle
25. "I have a very set routine. I work six days a week, but only half days. I work from 9 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon, without any interruptions, a fair slug." ~ Peter Mayle
26. "In the south of France the phones cut in and out, the electricity isn't particularly reliable. I think many people would get very irritated with that life." ~ Peter Mayle
27. "I would dearly love to resist the temptation, if you can call it that, to worry. It's boring, it's anti-social, it's unproductive and it's depressing." ~ Peter Mayle
28. "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 you wrote 20 years ago." ~ Peter Mayle
29. "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 stories of physical injury or financial ruin and they will either laugh or commiserate politely. But tell them you are facing gastronomic hardship, and they will move heaven and earth and even restaurant tables to help you." ~ Peter Mayle
30. "The French, it seems to me, strike a happy balance between intimacy and reserve. Some of this must be helped by the language, which lends itself to graceful expression even when dealing with fairly basic subjects.... And there's that famously elegant subtitle from a classic Western.COWBOY: "Gimme a shot of red-eye."SUBTITLE: "Un Dubonnet, s'il vous plait."No wonder French was the language of diplomacy for all those years." ~ Peter Mayle

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Today's Quote

Nothing indicts female allegiance to patriarchy more than the willingness to behave as though the problems created by cultural investment in sexist thinking about the nature of male and female roles can be solved by women's working harder."
Author: Bell Hooks

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Ear
Hen
French
Wit
Able
Said
Con
End
Phone
Per
Books
Air
Call
Use
Boo
Ears
Days
Book
Year
King
Ask
France
Fair
Sin
Lit
Luck
Thin
Help
Ring
She
Here
Sit
Head
Mad
Move
Sing
Cut
Deal
Ten
Read
Old
Hey
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