If you share the love of reading like I do, then this is surely for you!
Some quips and quotes for your notes and votes. Happy Reading :-)

Women of my generation in Chile were not supposed to be creative or successful. That was a man’s destiny. We were supposed to be ladies, to behave nicely, and to be a good mother, a good wife, and a good citizen. -  Isabel Allende

I don't think I would be a writer if I had stayed in Chile. I would be trapped in the chores, in the family, in the person that people expected me to be. -  Isabel Allende

Like a lot of people who’ve never wanted children, I’ve always been told I’ll change my mind one day. It was even a factor in my divorce. “I thought you’d come around,” my ex-partner said. But I couldn’t think of anything worse than bringing a child into the world who wasn’t wanted. A lot of adults lose their joy as they get older, and it must be hard being a parent because you’re thinking about safety and care. -  Jade Ridout

Being childfree, I love being able to act like a kid with my friends’ children! What’s cooler than being the fun aunt figure who jumps in puddles with them? You get the best of both worlds: all the fun, none of the responsibility. -  Jade Ridout

Karaoke is about expressing your feelings through the song. I’m not good at talking about my feelings, but I can do that through other people’s lyrics. -  Elizabeth Moya

It seems, my dear ***, that the heads of the greatest men shrink when they are assembled, and that where more sages are found, there also is less wisdom. -  Montesquieu

Note to all who get their validation from work: the workaholic is the most accepted addict of all. In fact, he and she are celebrated. Why would you want to change when the bosses and society applaud you? Work is the great permissive addiction. -  Fergal Keane

Work drove me to a near constant state of exhaustion as I chased scoops and prizes so vital to my insecure ego. -  Fergal Keane

Anyone who knows clinical depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will tell you, there are no specific days of the year for sadness. It can be the brightest day, in the loveliest place, and you still feel like your mind is trapped in permafrost. -  Fergal Keane

I was depressed, and I tried to kill myself. I was unconscious, and my mom gave me a slap… Depression is as common as common cold. If you’re not depressed, you’re not normal. My depression gave me a lot of clarity. -  Sabyasachi Mukherjee

My parent’s marriage was a disaster from the start. One day, around my third birthday, my father went to buy cigarettes and never returned. That was the first great loss of my life, and maybe that is why I can never write about fathers. There are so many abandoned children in my books that I could start an orphanage. -  Isabel Allende

I am a writer because I was blessed with an ear for stories, an unhappy childhood, and a strange family. (With relatives as weird as mine there is no need to invent anything. They alone provide all the material for magic realism). Literature has defined me. Word by word, page after page, I have invented this hyperbolic, flamboyant me. -  Isabel Allende

Technology is changing at supersonic speed. -  Aparna Chatterjee

I want to be my own best friend. And if love, in any form, comes along and adds to that? Beautiful. -  Drew Barrymore

The life of a child should not hang in the balance between two parents whose anger for each other outweighs their love for their child. Anger makes you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing. The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms. -  Todd Spitzer

One man's comfort is another man's expense. -  Aparna Chatterjee

The purpose of education is to create a better world but if it's making things worse, it's losing its purpose. -  Aparna Chatterjee

I work as an environmental consultant, and with the planet’s state of affairs it’s a bit off-putting for me to bring a child into this world. And I’d prefer to avoid the stress and financial strain of raising another human for 18 years. -  Jay Fletcher

My experience of friends with children has mostly been positive but when people become parents, they can become insular – their child becomes their whole lives. A few times I’ve just left restaurants when friends have talked incessantly about their children and don’t change the subject. I’ve asked to talk about something else, like a movie, but they’d say they’ve not seen a film recently because of their kids. -  Yasmin Latif

My advice would be to just expect and accept that relationships do fade as your lives change; it’s natural. Look for new activities, hobbies or groups with like-minded people. --  Geoff

People need to appreciate that mothers are mothers first and foremost. And if you trust them, they’ll continue to do a brilliant job because, wrongly, they’ll feel like they have to overcompensate, because you’ve allowed them to be a mum. Childcare in this country is a joke. The cost is crippling. Which means amazing women go off and have a baby and can’t come back. -  Stacey Dooley

One is not born, but rather becomes a woman…her wings are cut and blamed for not knowing how to fly. -  Simone de Beauvoir

You are the longest relationship you'll ever have. I refuse to believe that life starts or stops because of anyone else. -  Drew Barrymore

I haven’t lost any friends, I just accepted that relationships change, because life changes. Especially with long-term friendships that evolve over time, when your bond withstands that, it’s really an honour to see someone grow and develop – and become themselves. --   Jay Fletcher

If you had told me in my 20s, or even in my 30s, that I would be so wildly happy just being in my own company, I would have laughed. I was always chasing something: love, adventure, the next exciting thing. But somewhere along the way, I realized the company I was forever going to keep... was my own. -  Drew Barrymore

Let's be clear: converting atheists is like selling ice to penguins. We're reformed sceptics, armed with raised eyebrows and a PhD in side-eye. But Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, pulled off a miracle — he made me feel. Not faith, let me clarify, but something rarer still: respect. Extravagance is the armour of the insecure; you, sir, your humility was your papal crown. -  Satyen K Bordoloi

So here's to Jorge Mario Bergoglio: the Pope who didn't convert me, but made me believe in the divinity of decency. My tears are reserved for the scientists, the activists, the doers of the world. But for him? Fine! My stone-cold, rational heart relents. I will shed a few tears. I don't believe in gods—or their salesmen. But a good person? Now that scripture writes itself. -  Satyen K Bordoloi

Long ago I would have totally said I’m a city person because I gobble up culture, but I don’t know if it’s my age but I get fed up with people and like my privacy. At this point in my life I need to see more trees and less concrete. -  Jane

It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. -  Robert H. Goddard

If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that life is too short. Enjoy it while you can! -  Jo Barlow