A biography for Julie Burchillhasn’t been written yet.
“When I moved to Brighton from London in 1995, I was struck by what I thought of as its townliness. A town, it seemed to me, was that perfect place to live, neither city nor country, both of which like to think they are light years apart but actually have a great deal in common.”
“I have experienced jealousy, possessiveness, verbal abuse and violence from men, but I have also experienced jealousy, possessiveness, verbal abuse and violence from women, usually when I failed to respond to their advances.”
“Blakes Hotel in South Kensington was a particular favourite of mine during what I affectionately think of as my Restless Years.”
“What men don't want, in fact what anyone who's any sort of thrill-seeking, intelligent adult doesn't want, is some crushing bore describing their emotions in real time every waking hour.”
“A good part - and definitely the most fun part - of being a feminist is about frightening men.”
“Shame, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.”
“I don't have a spiritual bone in my body; but what I am, is religious.”
“I know that Brighton is famously a mixture of the seedy and the elegant, but in the summer of 2001 seediness swamped elegance hands down.”
“It's received wisdom that the English are uniquely child-unfriendly.”
“Fame is no sanctuary from the passing of youth... suicide is much easier and more acceptable in Hollywood than growing old gracefully.”
“Fact is, famous people say fame stinks because they love it so - like a secret restaurant or holiday island they don't want the hoi polloi to get their grubby paws on.”
“Covering up, so far as I can see, is often the accompaniment to far more truly shameful behaviour than stripping off.”
“To believe that one, or even three, mates can supply all the things one needs from one's friends is as stupid as believing married couples must do everything together.”
“As a child, I wanted only two things - to be left alone to read my library books, and to get away from my provincial hometown and go to London to be a writer. And I always knew that when I got there, I wanted to make loads of money.”
“It shouldn't come as any surprise that those who choose acting as a profession are phonies who live in a fantasy world. What is surprising is how many of them are blissfully unaware of it.”
“Women, more often than not, do things which aren't remotely relaxing but are all about preening, which is just another sort of work.”
“I am not one of those fat birds who feels miserable because models are thin. Frankly, I feel more insulted by the idea that unless I see other fat birds in fashion magazines, I will be reduced to a sniveling wreck of a human being.”
“Graham Greene famously said that all writers need a chip of ice in their heart; Cusk can come across as the most beautiful ice palace of stalactites and stalagmites, and some people find her company, albeit by proxy, about as inviting as a long weekend in a walk-in frigidaire.”
“I wouldn't know how to fool a man any more. My deceiving days seem so long ago.”
“No matter how old and glorious the models, sad indeed is the woman who sees fashion as a means of self-expression rather than an agent of social control.”