Peter Mayle Quotes

Good manners make any man a pleasure to be with. Ask any woman.

Depending on the inflection, ah bon can express shock, disbelief, indifference, irritation, or joy - a remarkable achievment for two short words.

Best advice I've ever received: Finish.

I'd rather live precariously in my own office than comfortably in somebody else's.

The English kill their meat twice: once when they slaughter it and once when they cook it.

No matter what their background, the southern French are fascinated by food.

Nowadays, if you have a journey, albeit a simple one, you consider yourself lucky if nothing happens.

Why not make a daily pleasure out a daily necessity.

You don't like it when a French housewife gets mad at you. If she gets steam behind her, she is an unstoppable creature.

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.

Very little happens in my books.

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.

I left school at 16 and skipped university to work, initially as a waiter. I think I missed out on what would have been great years.

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.

Prescription for writer’s block: fear of poverty.

There is nothing like a comfortable adventure to put people in a good humor. . .

There is nothing I like better at the end of a hot summer's day than taking a short walk around the garden. You can smell the heat coming up from the earth to meet the cooler night air.

The English murder their meat twice: once when they shoot it, again when they cook it. 'Drôle, n'est-ce pas'?