Colleen McCulloughOnce I've got the first draft down on paper then I do five or six more drafts, the last two of which will be polishing drafts. The ones in between will flesh out the characters an… ▶371Sadness
Colleen McCulloughWhen we press the thorn to our chest we know, we understand, and still we do it.352Humor
Colleen McCulloughWe're working-class people, which means we don't get rich or have maids. Be content with what you are and what you have. ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds, p.22, … ▶331Humanity
Colleen McCulloughThere was some justice in his pain ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds, p.365, Head of Zeus354Sadness
Colleen McCulloughMy fictitious characters will take the bit between their teeth and gallop off and do something that I hadn't counted on. However, I always insist on dragging them back to the stra… ▶321Thought
Colleen McCulloughI am writing a sequel to The Touch because I want to further explore the Chinese question that I have raised. There will be more about that in a sequel.354Sadness
Colleen McCulloughIn The Touch, the love scenes are the same as they were in The Thorn Birds or anything else Ive ever written. I find a way of saying that either it was heaven or hell but in a way… ▶358LoveReading
Colleen McCulloughBest of all she liked his eyes, such a translucent golden brown, and so laughing. ✨ Colleen McCullough (2015). The Ladies of Missalonghi, p.42, Head of Zeus295DeathHumor
Colleen McCulloughIt's a dead give away of an inexperienced writer if every character speaks with the same voice317DeathLife
Colleen McCulloughThere are no ambitions noble enough to justify breaking someone's heart.3310Love
Colleen McCulloughThe bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself, and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters there… ▶288DeathLifePolitics
Colleen McCulloughTwelve thousand miles of it, to the other side of the world. And whether they came home again or not, they would belong neither here, nor there, for they would have lived on two c… ▶267Life
Colleen McCulloughI think explicit love scenes are a turn off unless it's the kind you read with one hand.279LoveReadingThought
Colleen McCulloughI escaped the torture of my childhood home by reading. To this day it is still one of my greatest pleasures.224Reading
Colleen McCulloughOld age is an ordeal, of flesh and mind. Of winding down, of slowing down, of dying cells. It's accepting the loss of physical attractiveness and replacing it with the power and w… ▶203DeathPhilosophyPolitics
Colleen McCulloughThere's a hell of a lot of horny people out there who are not being gratified in the way they should be.193Humanity
Colleen McCullough..the best is only bought at the cost of great pain...or so says the legend ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds, p.7, Head of Zeus195Sadness
Colleen McCulloughWhat was sleep? A blessing, a respite from life, an echo of death, a demanding nuisance? ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds, p.365, Head of Zeus151DeathLife
Colleen McCulloughIt's no fun to be a bluestocking in a family of jockstraps.152Sadness
Colleen McCulloughThat's the purpose of old age... To give us a breathing space before we die, in which to see why we did what we did. ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds, p.601, Hea… ▶174Death
Colleen McCulloughTruly God was good, to make man so blind.207Time
Colleen McCulloughOh, that feels good! I don't know who invented ties and then insisted a man was only properly dressed when he wore one, but if I ever meet him, I'll strangle him with his own inve… ▶174Time
Colleen McCulloughEach of us has something within us which won't be denied, even if it makes us scream aloud to die. We are what we are, that's all. Like the old Celtic legend of the bird with the … ▶229DeathLoveSadness
Colleen McCulloughMy books and other works are my legacy, and it's a great comfort to know that mine is a legacy of pleasure for other people.208HumanityReading
Colleen McCulloughThe Labour Party of today has fits of horrors of the very thought of somebody like me might saying that they bought in white Australia. But I believe they did.208Thought
Colleen McCulloughYet there's something ominous about turning sixty-five. Suddenly old age is not a phenomenon which will occur; it has occurred. ✨ Colleen McCullough (2013). The Thorn Birds,… ▶186Time
Colleen McCulloughBelief doesn't rest on proof or existence...it rests on faith...without faith there is nothing.143HopeLife
Colleen McCulloughAnd gradually his memory slipped a little, as memories do, even those with so much love attached to them; as if there is an unconscious healing process within the mind which mends… ▶155LoveThought
Colleen McCulloughThere's a story... a legend, about a bird that sings just once in its life. From the moment it leaves its nest, it searches for a thorn tree... and never rests until it's found on… ▶155DeathLifeTime
Colleen McCulloughMy husband says it is very good that I have very tiny feet, because they're easier to get in my mouth.147Reflection
