Bridget wondered whether it all came down to the claustrophobic choice between dying beautiful or living ugly.

Lena knew she had spent too much of her life in a state of passive dread, just waiting for something bad to happen. In a life like that, relief was as close as you got to happiness.

I was supposed to write a romantic comedy, but my characters broke up.

They were the sisterhood: their mothers at a younger age.

Tibby, on the other hand, had spent hundreds and hundreds of hours with Brian striving for the comfort of not knowing.

[Carmen] knew a worse friend would have made her feel better.

sometimes you need to make a mess.

Leaders act with visions

Switch on your smile, laugh without reason. You control happiness, you change the world.

External actions are evidence of internal beliefs. Our deeds are what show our creeds.

A fulfilling life is different to each person. You have to acknowledge your dreams, and not just wait for life to happen, and opportunities to come knocking at your door.

I don't ask employers, for example, to like blacks or Jews or native people; I ask employers to hire the qualified members of thesegroups whether they likethem or not.

Laughing is the best calorie burner.

I'd always been treated like an object, not like a human.

Serving reconnects people to purpose. Serving someone else's dream empowers not just us, but them.

Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today.

I believe that Europe without Britain at the heart will be less reform-driven, less open, less international Europe.