Harriet the Spy

Don't mess with anybody on a Monday. It's a bad, bad day.

[Harriet] hated math. She hated math with every bone in her body. She spent so much time hating it that she never had time to do it.

Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.

YOU CAN'T BE TOO OLD TO SPY EXCEPT IF YOU WERE FIFTY YOU MIGHT FALL OFF A FIRE ESCAPE, BUT YOU COULD SPY AROUND ON THE GROUND A LOT.

Little lies that make people feel better are not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't, or someone with a hideous new hat that it's lovely. But to yourself you must tell the truth

She didn't care anymore... and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finall 'I feel different' came slowly to her mind. Yes, she thought, after a long pause. And then, after more time, 'Mean, I feel mean.

Life is a struggle and a good spy goes in there and fights.

LIFE IS A GREAT MYSTERY. IS EVERYBODY A DIFFERENT PERSON WHEN THEY ARE WITH SOMEBODY ELSE?

I WONDER IF WHEN YOU DREAM ABOUT SOMEBODY THEY DREAM ABOUT YOU.

Ole Golly: The time has come, the walrus said... Harriet M. Welsch: To talk of many things... Ole Golly: Of shoes and ships and ceiling wax... Harriet M. Welsch: Of cabbages and kings... Ole Golly: And why the sea is boiling hot... Harriet M. Welsch: And whether pigs have wings!

This was too much. "I refuse. I absolutely REFUSE to be an onion.

Harriet: Is it fun being married? Ole Golly: How should I know? I've never been married. However, I doubt it's all fun. Nothing ever is, you know.

THERE IS MORE TO THIS THING OF LOVE THAN MEETS THE EYE. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THIS A GREAT DEAL BUT I DON'T THINK IT WILL GET ME ANYWHERE. I THINK MAYBE THEY'RE ALL RIGHT WHEN THEY SAY THERE ARE DOME THINGS I WON'T KNOW ABOUT UNTIL I'M OLDER.

Harriet: How do you practice being an onion?

I feel all the same things when I do things alone as when Ole Golly was here. The bath feels hot, the bed feels soft, but I feel there's a funny little hole in me that wasn't there before, like a splinter in your finger, but this is somewhere above my stomach.

Harriet pushed her hair back and looked at him seriously. 'Sport, what are you going to be when you grow up?' 'You know what. You know I'm going to be a ball player.' 'Well, I'm going to be a writer. And when I say that's a mountain, that's a mountain.' Satisfied, she turned back to her town.

If Marion Hawthorne doesn't watch out, she's going to grow up into a lady Hitler.

SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN. I KNOW IT. EVERY TIME I HAD A BAD DREAM I FEEL LIKE LEAVING TOWN. THEN I FEEL THAT SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN. AND THIS IS THE WORST DREAM I'VE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE LIFE.

Well, I’m going to be a writer. And when I say that’s a mountain, that’s a mountain.

IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD WHEN ALL ABOUT YOU ARE LOSING THEIRS AND BLAMING IT ON YOU

It feels ... as though doors were opening all over the world... It's bigger, somehow, the world.