"She tried to allow herself only one biting remark an hour, and she had already overstepped her allowance."
— Anne Stuart (The Houseparty)

"The best kind of book," said Barnaby, "is a magic book."

"Naturally," said John."
— Edward Eager (Seven-Day Magic)

"Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won't drown."
— Arthur Ransome, 1930

"When I read that the flash came, and I took a sheet of paper. . .and I wrote on it: I, Emily Byrd Starr, do solemnly vow this day that I will climb the Alpine Path and write my name on the scroll of fame."
— L.M. Montgomery (Emily of New Moon)

"I'll do it because I want to but not because you tell me to!"
— Betty MacDonald

""A wager?" I repeated.
"Yes," he said, and gave me a slow smile, bright with challenge. ...
"Stake?" I asked cautiously. He was still smiling, an odd sort of smile, hard to define.
"A kiss." My first reaction was outrage, but then I remembered that I was on my way to Court, and that had to be the kind of thing they did at Court. And if I win I don't have to collect. I hesitated only a moment longer, lured by the thought of open sky, and speed, and winning.
"Done," I said."
— Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel)

"'Now run along and play, but don't get into trouble.' George promised to be good. But it is easy for little monkeys to forget."
— H.A. Rey

"Earth and fire and water and air
We solemnly promise, we solemnly swear
Not a word, not a hint, not a sound to declare
Earth and fire and water and air!"
— Hilda Lewis (The Ship That Flew)

"3:12 pm
Secretly, I admit, I find many of my classmates annoying. I've often thought to myself, 'Good grief, these people are five-year-olds. Why must I spend my days among them?' But have I ever said such things aloud? No. I have been nothing but generous to them, and kept these thoughts to myself.
And how have they repaid me? Have they been grateful or kind? Ho NO!"
— Jaclyn Moriarty, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie

"I was convinced I felt as strongly about Jane Austen's books as Ashleigh had ever felt about any of her crazes, but my love was deep and silent - and therefore easily overshadowed."
— Polly Shulman, Enthusiasm

"Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy."
— Joseph Campbell

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."
— Sarah Dessen (The Truth About Forever)

"Patent lawyers had only lately ascended to the aristocracy of the American bar. Trained not just as lawyers but as scientists or engineers, and working in small, specialized firms, they were at one time rudely dismissed by corporate lawyers as gearheads in green eyeshades, not good enough at science to be scientists, nor sufficiently talented at law to be real lawyers. Then came the intellectual property revolution of the 1990s, and these onetime outcasts found themselves ruling the last vibrant corner of the American economy."
— Paul Goldstein

"'A no-hitter is a freaky thing,' Tweet said. 'Most of the greatest pitchers never pitched one. It's a combination of a lot of little accidents.'"
— Duane Decker, Switch Hitter

"Muster your wits; stand in your own defence..."
— William Shakespeare

"'Take my camel, dear,' said my aunt Dot, climbing down from that animal on her return from high Mass."
— Rose Macaulay (The Towers of Trebizond)

"A gentleman can hardly continue to sit,' he explained, in his serenest and most level voice, 'when he asks a very remarkable young lady to do him the honor of marrying him. And - 'he somehow contrived to grin at me wickedly, 'I usually get what I want, Miss Grahame,' he added, and pitched over in a tangled heap on the floor."
— Elizabeth Marie Pope (The Sherwood Ring)

"She thought of the library, so shining white and new; the rows and rows of unread books; the bliss of unhurried sojourns there and of going out to a restaurant, alone, to eat."
— Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown)

"I have several people among my acquaintances who might be described as 'fearsome rogues.' Did he give a name?"
— Pamela Belle, Alethea

"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it)."
— Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass)

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
— C.S. Lewis

"His comments did not deserve the compliment of a rational reply."
— Jane Austen

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life was like that. Everyone loved the wrong person who loved someone else or didn’t love at all."
— K.M. Peyton (Snowfall)

"She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."
— Louisa May Alcott (Work: A Story of Experience)

"Jo's eyes sparkled, for it's always pleasant to be believed in; and a friend's praise is always sweeter than a dozen newspaper puffs."
— Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

"Finally someone takes me seriously enough to ask for my word of honor, and it’s a villain."
— Sherwood Smith

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"Miss Barry was a kindred spirit after all," Anne confided to Marilla, "You wouldn't think so to look at her, but she is. . . Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
— L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

"So? He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep."
— Tamora Pierce (In the Hand of the Goddess)