Quotes from When We Were Very Young

A.A. Milne ·  100 pages

Rating: (19.9K votes)


“She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    "Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“If people ask me,
I always tell them:
"Quite well, thank you, I'm very glad to say."
If people ask me,
I always answer,
"Quite well, thank you, how are you today?"
I always answer,
I always tell them,
If they ask me
Politely...
BUT SOMETIMES
I wish

That they wouldn't”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“Where am I going? I don't quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-cups grow-
Up on a hill where the pine-trees blow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Where am I going? The clouds sail by,
Little ones, baby ones, over the sky.
Where am I going? The shadows pass,
Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,
You'd sail on the water as blue as air.
And you'd see me here in the fields and say:
"Doesn't the sky look green today?"

Where am I going? The high rooks call:
"It's awful fun to be born at all.
Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:
"We do have beautiful things to do."

If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You'd lean on the wind when the wind
came by,
You'd say to the wind when it took you away:
"That's where I wanted to go today!"

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“And Teddy worried lots about
The fact that he was rather stout.
He thought: "If only I were thin!
But how does anyone begin?”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young



“If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by,
You'd say to the wind when it took you away:
"That's where I wanted to go today!”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,
You'd sail on the water as blue as air.
And you'd see me here in the fields and say:
"Doesn't the sky look green today?”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


“Vespers

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy -- I quite forgot.

If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.

Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.

Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember. God bless Me.

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed.
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.”
― A.A. Milne, quote from When We Were Very Young


About the author

A.A. Milne
Born place: in Hampstead, London, England, The United Kingdom
Born date January 18, 1882
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Good sex isn’t complete without cuddling and aftercare.

Women instinctively know this. Men, if they’re smart, figure it out.”
― Nikki Sex, quote from Kink


“when a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, quote from Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories: Volumes I and II


“OSWALD: For I'm not so afraid of death--though I should like to live as long as I can.
MRS. ALVING: Yes, yes, Oswald, you must!
OSWALD: But this is so unutterably loathsome.”
― Henrik Ibsen, quote from Ghosts


“TO:rosencrantzpinchard@gmai.com: Something's wrong! The house is shaking!

TO:rosencrantzpinchard@gmail.com: Well can you turn down the volume on Star Trek:Voyager? I thought we were having an earthquake when the Enterprise hit Warp speed. Why did you let me sleep until nearly one?”
― Robert Bryndza, quote from The Not So Secret Emails Of Coco Pinchard


“There it is again, the mantra “if only.” I am always made aware of the alternative universe where things turned out differently, in which lives were saved. I am used to the mantra. For immigrants, regret can become a way of life. Shouts”
― Suki Kim, quote from Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite


Interesting books

The Horse Dancer
(8.2K)
The Horse Dancer
by Jojo Moyes
Liar & Spy
(22.1K)
Liar & Spy
by Rebecca Stead
Undeclared
(10.7K)
Undeclared
by Jen Frederick
The Octopus: A Story of California
(1.4K)
The Octopus: A Story...
by Frank Norris
El Principito, El Príncipe feliz y otros cuentos
(1M)
El Principito, El Pr...
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Price of Salt
(30.1K)
The Price of Salt
by Patricia Highsmith

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters 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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.