“I watched the early morning light pass over and through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of red and green and yellow on the stone floor. When I was little, I used to try and capture the colored light. I thought I could hold it in my hand and carry it home. Now I know it is like happiness-- it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it or keep it.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“I think sometimes that people are like onions. On the outside smooth and whole and simple but inside ring upon ring, complex and deep.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“. . . . I cannot escape my life but can only use my determination and courage to make it the best I can.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“I have developed a rash on my body where the rough cloth rubs on my skin. I wanted to take a bath, thinking that the dirt on my skin made the rash worse, but the bathing tub has been turned upside down and is being used as an extra table in the kitchen and i cannot have it until spring, so I just spread goose grease on my rash. The dogs are following me everywhere.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“Just as a river by night shines with the reflected light of the moon, so too do you shine with the light of your family, your people, and your God. So you are never far from home, never alone, wherever you go.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“My mother makes the best cider in Lincolnshire. She swears it is because she always includes a number of rotten apples in the mix. I was wondering if this could be true of people - if the world needs a few rotten people to make the sweetest mix. This would explain the problem of God allowing evil in the world.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“I cannot be a monk, nor a crusader, nor a tumbler. I must stay here and hem sheets until I die. My humors are greatly out of balance. I prescribe for myself wormwood and spiced wine and some of the custard left from supper, and I will let all of the dogs sleep in my bed.”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“More lady-lessons. It is impossible to do all and be all a lady must be and not tie oneself in a knot. A lady must walk erect with dignity, looking straight before her with eyelids low, gazing at the ground ahead, neither trotting nor running nor looking about nor laughing nor stopping to chatter. Her hands must be folded below her cloak while at the same time lifting her dress from the floor while at the same time hiding her mouth if her smile is unattractive or her teeth yellow. A lady must have six hands!”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
“Corpus bones, I thought. To be wedded to this perfumed prig with his mouth in a knot and a frown always on his face!”
― Karen Cushman, quote from Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
Born place: in Chicago, Illinois, The United States
Born date October 4, 2018
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“Well, you have the right to make a sacrifice of yourself, but I'll be damned if I'll let you sacrifice me!”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from Black Sheep
“A Forge, and a Scythe"
One minute I had the windows open
and the sun was out. Warm breezes
blew through the room.
(I remarked on this in a letter.)
Then, while I watched, it grew dark.
The water began whitecapping.
All the sport-fishing boats turned
and headed in, a little fleet.
Those wind-chimes on the porch
blew down. The tops of our trees shook.
The stove pipe squeaked and rattled
around in its moorings.
I said, "A forge, and a scythe."
I talk to myself like this.
Saying the names of things --
capstan, hawser, loam, leaf, furnace.
Your face, your mouth, your shoulder
inconceivable to me now!
Where did they go? It's like
I dreamed them. The stones we brought
home from the beach lie face up
on the windowsill, cooling.
Come home. Do you hear?
My lungs are thick with the smoke
of your absence.”
― Raymond Carver, quote from All of Us: The Collected Poems
“You can't rely on bringing people downtown, you have to put them there.”
― Jane Jacobs, quote from The Death and Life of Great American Cities
“It's a strange sensation to live inside another person's life, to wonder all the time what he is doing, or thinking or feeling.”
― Meg Rosoff, quote from What I Was
“She was nearly seventy years old. There was no time left for regret or misgivings, no time for dreams of what might have been.”
― Mary Alice Monroe, quote from The Beach House
The Informers
The Hard Way
Mr. Midshipman Hornb...
Club Shadowlands
The Maid of Fairbour...
The Duke of ShadowsBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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