B.B. > Quotes

“It's always the same when I feel the autumn coming. I want to be up and away somewhere, over the hills and far away.”
― B.B., Down the Bright Stream

“I have come back once more to you all … once more … ‘ Pan paused, and in the silence not a foot moved or a wing rustled, ‘and then I shall indeed be gone until that day when we shall all return, yes, all, gnomes and wild forgotten things alike, to the land where once we lived.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“The wonder of the world
The beauty and the power,
The shapes of things,
Their colours, lights and shades,
These I saw.
Look ye also while life lasts.”
― B.B.

“a very English smell, nettles, elder, grass and rubbish.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“There’s no such thing as private property in nature! The woods and fields belong to the earth, and so do we.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“What a rude creature,’ said Baldmoney, in a quiet tone to Sneezewort. ‘How vain,’ said Sneezewort; ‘and he called us persons.’ ‘I’m waiting,’ said the pheasant in a steely voice, looking over their heads. ‘Well, you vain insolent creature, you can wait! We’re not going out of this wood for you or anybody else!’ replied Baldmoney hotly.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“The sun was out, dappling the nettles round the tree, though it was a green underwaterish kind of light which seemed rather curious.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“You must remember that Baldmoney and his brothers were (as far as I know) the last gnomes left in England. Rather surprisingly, he was extraordinarily like the pictures of gnomes in fairy books, even to the pointed skin hat and long beard.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“Being a damp sort of place, weeds of all kinds flourished: all those plants which love water crowded round; giant dock, appearing not unlike the riverside plants of a tropical stream, with huge hairy columns for stalks as thick round as trees, with curious beetles and flies crawling about on the undersides of their green umbrella-like leaves, Fool’s Parsley, Bog Myrtle, Water Betony, Marsh Marigold, and huge buttercups.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“I wish him luck,’ said Robin, voicing his thoughts, ‘and may he live in the Chase for years and years and never be caught.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“Supposing I fell off ?’ said Dodder rather nervously. ‘Oh, you need not worry about that, little gnome, if you hold on tightly!”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“At this spot, for some reason known only to itself, the Folly brook turned at a right angle. Beneath the oak the water had washed away the sandy bank, and many winter floods had laid bare some of the massive hawser roots which projected in a twisted tangle from the soil of the bank. The sun, shining full on the steep bluff, threw shadows from the overhanging roots, so that underneath all was darkness.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“it is possible, nay probable, that some wandering lovers spied that apparition rushing by, as they lingered in each other’s fond embrace among the honeysuckle.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“Masses of red dogwood, guelder-roses, and privet hemmed them in, whilst overhead the dark tassels of the firs almost shut out the greying dawn. Not far from the stream, sprawled down the bank, was a giant Scots pine. It had torn up much of the bank in its fall, and the roots appeared in the half-darkness like the limbs of some long-dead monster.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“Slowly the fire died away; nobody spoke. They lay on their backs warming their toes and watching the trembling stars high above and the dark rustling crown of the black poplars etched against the velvet sky.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“It seems to me this idea of going to school and then into business isn’t the natural way for a man to live, at least to my way of thinking. Don’t you see what most people are missing? Something which is fine and grand. Living like we do, I mean out in the open air. They’re getting farther and farther away from the natural life, nature and all that; they’re creating a world which is … Oh, I don’t know … I can’t jaw properly … but you know what I mean.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“Why, I’ve just thought of something, something very important—we haven’t named the new boat! It’s awfully unlucky to go on a voyage in a new boat which has no name. What shall we do?’ ‘Why, name it, of course,’ said Baldmoney with a superior air.”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“there is no magic left in England now!”
― B.B., The Little Grey Men

“We shan’t ever be free again,”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“Then he began to feel frightened at the immensity of it all and his own littleness and at last he was glad to roll over and come to earth and watch the cosy flame-light playing about the faces of his brother outlaws.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“The trees seemed to pray for rain; the little horse ponds outside the Chase shrank until only flaked and cracked hollows, like empty dishes, rewarded the maddened cows when they came to drink.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase

“justice and the birch.”
― B.B., Brendon Chase