Dodie Smith

“He laughed a little, in an odd, nervous kind of way. "Because if I don't get going soon, the whole impetus may die--and if that happens, well, I really shall consider a long, restful plunge into insanity. Sometimes the abyss yawns very attractively.”

“The thought came to me that perhaps it is the loving that counts, not the being loved in return - that perhaps true loving can never know anything but happiness.”

“...perhaps it is loving that counts, not the being loved in return- that perhaps true loving can never know anything but happiness.”

“What I'd really hate would be the settled feeling, with nothing but happiness to look forward to. Of course no life is perfectly happy- Rose's children will probably get ill, the servants may be difficult, perhaps dear Mrs. Cotton will prove to be the teeniest fly in the ointment. (I should like to know what fly was originally in what ointment.) There are hundreds of worries and even sorrows that may come along, but- I think what I really mean is that Rose won't be wanting things to happen. She will want things to stay just as they are. She will never have the fun of hoping something wonderful and exciting may be just round the corner.”

“Walking down Belmotte was the oddest sensation-- every step took us deeper into the mist until at last it closed over our heads. It was like being drowned in the ghost of water.”

“She is a famous artists' model who claims to have been christened Topaz - even if this is true there is no law to make a woman stick to a name like that.”

“I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.”

“There used to be two of us always on the look-out for life, talking to Miss Blossom at night, wondering, hoping; two Bronte-Jane Austen girls, poor but spirited, two Girls of Godsend Castle.”

“She will want things to stay just as they are. She will never have the fun of hoping something wonderful and exiting may be just around the corner.”

“All of a sudden we saw a high, round tower in the distance, on a little hill. Father instantly decided that we must explore it, though mother wasn't enthusiastic. It was difficult to find because the little roads twisted and woods and villages kept hiding it from us, but every few minutes we caught a glimpse of it.”

“It is part of a follow-my-leader game of second-best we have all been playing . . . it isn't a very good game; the people you play it with are apt to get hurt.”

“Mr. Dearly wasn't exactly handsome but he had the kind of face you don't get tired of.”

“You're the kind of child who might develop a passion for Bach."I told him I hadn't at school. The one Bach piece I learnt made me feel I was being repeatedly hit on the head with a teaspoon.”

“But I can't see how anyone could believe that you killed the bear with a pitchfork,' I said.'I didn't. I only wounded it - badly, I think, but not enough to put it out of action. It came blundering towards me, I stepped aside and it crashed head-first into the river - I could hear it threshing about in the darkness. I picked up a big stone - poor brute, I hated to do it but I had to finish it off. It gave just one groan as the stone hit it and then went down. I held the lantern high; I could see the bubbles coming up. And then I saw the dark bulk of it under the water, being carried along by the current.''But you didn't have a lantern,' I said.'He didn't have a bear,' said Topaz.”

“Topaz was wonderfully patient - but sometimes I wonder if it is not only patience, but also a faint resemblance to cows.”

“Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?”

“The key to all knowledge comes in words of just one syllable, apparently.... There's only the last page left to write on. I'll fill it with words of just one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.”

“... me daba la sensación de que alguien tan destrozado como yo debía recibir ayuda de la Iglesia. A continuación dije para mis adentros que, como no pensaba en la Iglesia cuando era feliz, difícilmente podía esperar algo cuando no lo era. No se puede cobrar el seguro sin abonar las cuotas.”

“My imagination longs to dash ahead and plan developments; but I have noticed that when things happen in one's imaginings, they never happen in one's life, so I am curbing myself.”

“Porque una debe de hundirse en el abismo si quiere elevarse a las alturas.”

“Wakings are the worst times - almost before my eyes are open a great weight seems to roll on to my heart.”

“While I have been writing I have lived in the past, the light of it has been all around me...”

“Oh I daresay she can't help it - she's one of the women who oughn't be loved too kindly when they are some primitive desire for brutality makes them try to provoke it.”

“I found it quite easy to carry on a casual conversation it was as if my real feelings were down fathoms deep in my mind and what we said was just a feathery surface spray.”

“Perhaps if I make myself write I shall find out what is wrong with me.”

“... there is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love. And most of those minds are shut to what marriage really means.”

“I could hear rain still pouring from the gutters and a thin branch scraping against one of the windows; but the church seemed completely cut off from the restless day outside--just as I felt cut off from the church. I thought: I am a restlessness inside a stillness inside a restlessness.”

“And I suspect that, to the eyes of love, love shows. I knew about you as well as about myself, almost from the beginning.”

“Feeling like what, Cassandra Mortmain? Flat? Depressed? Empty? If so, why, pray?I thought if I made myself write I should find out what is wrong with me, but I haven't, so far. Unless — could I possibly be jealous of Rose?I will pause and search my innermost soul . . .I have searched it for a solid five minutes. And I swear I am not jealous of Rose; [..]”

“I am surprised to see how much I have written; with stories even a page can take me hours, but the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down.”

“But her voice sounded wistful. It is one of her theories that a woman must never be jealous, never try to hold man against his will; but I could tell that she hadn't enjoyed seeing someone else bring father to life.”

“I don’t like the sound of all those lists he’s making – it’s like taking too many notes at school; you feel you’ve achieved something when you haven’t.”

“There is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love.”

“We were restless for ages...After a while I heard an owl hooting and calmed myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields – and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice. I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian.”

“Did you think of anything when Miss Marcy said Scoatney Hall was being re-opened? I thought of the beginning of Pride and Prejudice – where Mrs. Bennet says 'Netherfield Park is let a last.' And then Mr. Bennet goes over to call on the rich new owner.”

“Now, paper and pencils," said Miss Marcy, clapping her hands.Writing paper is scarce in this house, and I had no intention of tearing sheets out of this exercise book, which is a superb sixpenny one the Vicar gave me. In the end, Miss Marcy took the middle pages out of her library record, which gave us a pleasant feeling that we were stealing from the government, and then we sat round the table and elected her chairman.”

“I don't want to miss anything.”

“...With stories even a page can take me hours, but the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down.”

“Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London - that it has always been , in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically - by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town.”

“Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.”

“I know all about the facts of life, and I don't think much of them.”

“Still, looking through the old volumes was soothing, because thinking of the past made the present seem a little less real.”

“If you love people, you take them on trust.”

“Oh, it is wonderful to wake up in the morning with things to look forward to!”

“... for I know I shall be interrupted-- I shall want to be, really, because life is too exciting to sit still for long.”

“It's odd how different a house feels when one is alone in it. It makes it easier to think rather private thoughts...”

“And at last father flung the rug off as if it were hampering him and strode over to the table saying, 'cocoa, cocoa!'-- it might have been the most magnificent drink in the world; which, personally, I think it is.”

“I have noticed that rooms which are extra clean feel extra cold”

“I believe it is customary to get one's washing over first in baths and bask afterwards; personally, I bask first. I have discovered that the first few minutes are the best and not to be wasted-- my brain always seethes with ideas and life suddenly looks much better than did.”