13 Nina Bawden Quotes for You to Enjoy

Nina Bawden

British Writer

Born: Jan 19, 1925

Died: Aug 22, 2012

Better Husband Me People Think You

Related authors: Alan Moore Arthur Conan Doyle J. B. Priestley Jane Austen Lawrence Durrell Mary Wollstonecraft Norman Douglas Tom Hodgkinson

I grew up on a suburban street with lace curtains and dull neighbours, so I made up stories to tell my friend, in which they became serial killers and burglars. She told her mother, who then told mine. Nina Bawden

I dislike the word 'victim.' I dislike being told that I 'lost' my husband - as if I had idly abandoned you by the side of the railway track like an unwanted pair of old shoes. Nina Bawden

You Old Word Husband Unwanted Lost Shoes Victim Side Abandoned Had Like Track Idly Being Dislike Pair Railway

The murder of my husband by the railways has altered the way I think about everything. I had always thought that the majority of people were decent and honourable. In the wake of the crash, what made me angry more than anything else was the realisation that this was not true. I still find it very hard to come to terms with. Nina Bawden

Angry Me People Thought Made Husband Think Else Everything Way Honourable Find About More More Than Anything Had True Come Terms Majority Altered Always Still Were Wake Very Than Decent Anything Crash Anything Else Realisation Hard Railways

Children often have a much stronger concept of morality than adults. Nina Bawden

Stronger Morality Adult Concept Than Often Children Much

I was born in a small suburb of Ilford in a rather nasty housing estate that my mother despised. She had grown up in the country, so when the war came and I was evacuated to Wales she thought I was much better off there. Nina Bawden

I would hate to live in the country, unless I was living on a farm. Nina Bawden

Hate Country Farm Live Living Unless Would

I was cleaning out the pigsty at a farm in Wales, where my mother had rented a room, when the results of my final school exam were handed to me by the postman, along with the news that I had a state scholarship to Oxford. I had waited for this letter for so many weeks that I had abandoned hope, deciding that I had failed ignominiously. Nina Bawden

Hope News Me Cleaning School Mother Farm Final State Abandoned Out Postman Exam Results Weeks Had Scholarship Failed Along Were Waited Handed Wales Oxford Where Deciding Room Many Letter

I met my second husband on a bus. We looked at each other and that was it. We were both married to other people at the time and behaved badly, but we didn't seem to have any choice. We were very happy for nearly 50 years and would still be together if it wasn't for the bloody railways. Nina Bawden

Time Together Happy People Husband Met Other Married Would Seem Both Badly Looked Still Were Years Very Bloody Behaved Any Bus Choice Each Nearly Railways Second

People who don't read seem to me mysterious. I don't know how they think or learn about other people. Novels are a very important part of our education. Nina Bawden

Education Me People Important Think Other Our About Seem Mysterious Part Know Learn Read Important Part How Very Who Novels

I hope in my books I help children to see their strengths, and show them I have some idea of what they may occasionally be going through. Especially at tricky moments when it is easier to go back and evade things rather than go forwards and confront them. Nina Bawden

Hope Back Books Easier Tricky See Some Rather Through Idea Occasionally Go Than Going May Children Confront Them Show Help Forwards Moments Things Strengths

But I don't write about sex for today's teenagers. Or Doc Martens boots either. I'm more interested in exploring how exactly the world is run, which doesn't really change that much from one generation to another. Nina Bawden

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