A biography for Sue Perkinshasn’t been written yet.
“You're never going to persuade a meat-eater to become a vegetarian on taste grounds. They're completely different. One is a cleaner, fresher taste: it hasn't got that bass-note beefiness.”
“To those who say: 'Why pay for a gym when the outdoors is free?' I say this. In nature, there are no medicine balls. You can lie on an outsized gourd doing sit-ups, but in reality, outsized gourds are hard to come by unless you live in a farmers' market.”
“I'm not very good when I'm given scripts.”
“Whatever the critics make of 'Maestro,' I hope they don't call it a reality show.”
“I don't really drink, but the one thing I really hanker after is Zubrowka vodka. If it's someone's birthday, I'll pretend I like red wine for about three sips.”
“Writing a memoir begins a process that doesn't necessarily end with publication. You begin to think about family life and stories and relationships, and those are ongoing.”
“I would have loved to have been science-minded enough to be in the caring profession - either as a doctor or nurse or vet.”
“I'm a good cook, but I can't bake.”
“One day I would want to be an Egyptologist, the next day an ornithologist. I was an exhausting child.”
“I'd love to see Kate Bush, full stop.”
“I have come to understand that my hatred of the gym was based on fear and prejudice, a tribal resistance to science, to improvement. But to ignore my aging physicality and not try and become the strongest and fittest I can be is curmudgeonly at best and wilfully ignorant at worst.”
“I've always thrown myself into love in a rather carefree way, and the net result is that you do get hurt. But I wouldn't take away any of the experiences of my life.”
“I've learnt how to develop routines. To play with each bit. To enjoy expanding on it. To get used to the stage being mine.”
“Being a lesbian is only about the 47th most interesting thing about me.”
“I'm always content. I hold much more store in contentment than happiness.”
“I'd like to live permanently in October 1988, when I started college. I had no responsibility and the energy to do whatever I wanted. My optimism wasn't dented by experience or low self-esteem.”
“I don't understand people who travel purely gastronomically, who book a Michelin-starred restaurant three months in advance and suddenly find themselves in Copenhagen or Barcelona with a zeitgeist plate of snail porridge.”
“We all belong to a tribe. You might be a religious or a family person - that's your tribe.”
“You can love food without being a cook. Equally, you can love food and be a very good cook.”
“The great thing about ageing is that your eyesight deteriorates at the same rate as your face. So I can't see how bad things are getting.”