Placing ‘amicable’ and ‘separation’ together creates an oxymoron – we don’t usually decide to end a partnership until the very sight of our soon-to-be ex fills us with disgust, misery, agony or a combination of all three. – Mariella Frostrup
Often, those who bruise easily spend too much time thinking about themselves. I’d go so far as to say that oversensitivity is a privilege of the underoccupied. The majority of people don’t have the time to lavish care on emotional wounds – they’re too busy getting on with living. – Mariella Frostrup
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 importance of mopping the kitchen floor and achieving world peace. – Mariella Frostrup
Normally, the thin-skinned have an endless array of excuses for why their workaday interactions are so much harder to bear for them than for the rest of us. In the eyes of the self-suffering, they are being victimised, used and always abused, when they’re actually experiencing exactly the same body blows as the rest of us. – Mariella Frostrup
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 is all the more powerful as it is not weighed down with neediness and unreasonable expectation. – Mariella Frostrup
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 detrimental effect on our cache of love stories. – Mariella Frostrup
For most of us, when our ‘dreams’ – I use the word with reservations – came true, and marriage and motherhood became a reality, the romcoms, like horoscopes, swiftly lost their allure. – Mariella Frostrup
Once you’ve raised a child to adulthood, you can only be as demanding as your offspring allow. – Mariella Frostrup
As we mature, there are people with whom we run out of steam, but there are also those with whom a little straight talking would prove rewarding. – Mariella Frostrup
First, I was a glacial blonde doing music programmes. Then I was the film kind of sexy bird late at night. It was frustrating like I guess it’s frustrating for everyone who is not fully employing their talents. – Mariella Frostrup
In my child’s-eye view, whenever I was exposed to pain, it meant that my mother had let me down. – Mariella Frostrup
We inhabit a world where we’re taught that we can have what we desire, and tend to act on it – the least we can do is admit to it when we succumb to our instincts. – Mariella Frostrup
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. – Mariella Frostrup
Men that aren’t threatened by opinionated, faintly aggressive women are in a minority. – Mariella Frostrup
Coming from a broken home, I wanted to be as sure as I could be that my kids would have two parents who will stay together and bring them up. – Mariella Frostrup
I used to go out with someone who was a really great diver, and we used to go to all the great dive spots all over the globe – although I would spend most of my time crying because I was often too scared to go into the water. But once I was in the water, I loved it. – Mariella Frostrup
The great advantage of being human is that we can employ rational thought and resolve to change our circumstances. – Mariella Frostrup
You’re allowed to have gravitas when you’ve got the wrinkles to prove it, but not when you’re attractive and younger – or, at least, you have to fight really hard to prove you’re capable of productive thought. – Mariella Frostrup
Only those with skin as thick as elephant hide can hope to sail through their teens unscathed by self-doubt and bouts of depression. – Mariella Frostrup
Ageing is one of those battles you’re not going to win. I’ll try to look as good as I can as long as I can. I don’t think I’ll do cosmetic surgery because I’m a wimp. – Mariella Frostrup
For many, long-term friendships, rather than family ties, are the foundations for sustainable lives. – Mariella Frostrup
Many new lovers and spouses struggle to reconcile themselves with their partners’ relationship history, but it’s an insecurity I left behind in my 20s. – Mariella Frostrup
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, without medical help, to make a child. – Mariella Frostrup
Saturday and Sunday mornings are the only time the children are allowed to turn on the television. – Mariella Frostrup
I met Jason on a charity walk in 2001, and we got married on a friend’s boat in Panama two years later. It was the perfect wedding for two people who’d already been married and who weren’t teenagers. – Mariella Frostrup