It wasn't rich, it was hard-working, but I give thanks daily for the kind of upbringing I had, and for the values my parents brought to their own relationship and to their children. They wanted my brother and me to find out what we were best at and make the most of it.

People have always pitied spinsters. We have been derided, as if we had missed out on life.

I didn't make a decision not to be married and not to be a mother - life just turned out like that because my involvement in acting was so total.

Patricia Routledge Quotes