Quotes by Mariella Frostrup

“Since so many romantic comedies vary little in their storyline, the success or failure of such movies depends largely on whether we believe in the relationship of the protagonists.”

“I hate the thought of my children being glued to a screen. Children only play on computers all day because their parents let them.”

“I've been accused of riding roughshod over others' emotions, and I admit, when I feel a friend is being over-indulgent, my patience is in short supply.”

“For many young women, the dream of independence and a home of their own is a tantalising goal, while a lifetime devoted solely to catering for another person's needs would be hard to countenance.”

“I recognise my old self in a lot of the letters I get from single women who are unrealistic about what they want.”

“We invest less in our friendships and expect more of friends than any other relationship. We spend days working out where to book for a romantic dinner, weeks wondering how to celebrate a partner o...”

“There are many ways to make the most of your time on the planet, and propagation of the species is just one of them. If you're convinced that it's the key to your happiness, there are routes open t...”

“When I last looked, there weren't queues of eager guys under 40 hanging outside single ladies' doors begging them to give up work and have their babies. It takes two to tango and the same number, w...”

“Having a baby is a disaster for your career. I don't think there's any sympathy.”

“Contrary to popular mythology, the best and most durable relationships are based not on vulnerability or passion but on a conjugation of positive attributes, a meeting of mind, body and soul that i...”

“Translating any insights I have for strangers' lives into positive action in my own has proved a challenge. While I've learned a lot about what everyone else is thinking, I fail miserably to use su...”

“The sight of parents, children and grandparents all descending on a tented field to enjoy the pleasure of ideas and books renews my faith in humanity.”

“Every friendship goes through ups and downs. Dysfunctional patterns set in external situations cause internal friction you grow apart and then bounce back together. ”

“Sustaining true friendship is a lot more challenging than we give it credit for.”

“In romance, we feel the need to zoom in and expound on our partner's foibles in intimate detail; in friendship, we tend to do the opposite, avoiding confrontation through fear, lethargy or both.”

“Like cars, every relationship requires a bit of an occasional service, and fine-tuning should be compulsory.”

“While the male eye zooms in on a particular element to the exclusion of all else, a woman's gaze flickers from one tedious task to the next, to the point where we can't distinguish between the impo...”

“You only need to look at Jane Austen to see how crossed wires can become a defining aspect of romantic life. Then again, if the course of true love ran more smoothly, it would have a terribly detri...”

“Far too many girls' and women's romantic relationships are formed around a negation of their own worth and attributes rather than a confirmation of them.”

“Girls have a tendency to take responsibility for romantic misinterpretations, when often it's men whose perfectly honed emotional inscrutability makes life more complicated than it should be.”