Karen Cushman > Quotes

“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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Just because you don't know everything don't mean you know nothing.”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.”
― Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Fathers should make you feel safe.”
― Karen Cushman, The Loud Silence of Francine Green

“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, 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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“I am near fourteen and have never yet seen a hanging. My life is barren.”
― Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy

“. . . she dreamed of nothing, for she hoped for nothing and expected nothing. It was as cold and dark inside her as out in the frosty night.”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“Minds, like diapers, need occasional changing.”
― Karen Cushman, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

“She was not as stupid as some I have had, and better company, but still perhaps her going was for the best. She was not what I needed."

"Because I failed," whispered Alyce in the shadows.

"Because she gave up," continued the midwife. "I need an apprentice who can do what I tell her, take what I give her, who can try and risk and fail and try again and not give up...”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“It's important to know what you think, my dear, or else you will be so hemmed in by other people's ideas and opinions, you won't have room for your own.”
― Karen Cushman, The Loud Silence of Francine Green

“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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“I know what I want. A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Love brightens and purifies the heart.”
― Karen Cushman, Matilda Bone

“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, 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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Saliva mucusque”
― Karen Cushman, Matilda Bone

“I feel safer when you're here. You're so big and sturdy, like a beautiful tree I can lean on and not knock over.”
― Karen Cushman, Rodzina

“I want to remake the whole world; anything less is not worth the trouble.”
― Karen Cushman

“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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Non che non creda in Dio. Ci credo. Solo non sono sicura di credere nel Paradiso, almeno non quanto credo nella biblioteca pubblica.”
― Karen Cushman, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

“My pains are but trifling things compared to my joy.”
― Karen Cushman, Will Sparrow's Road

“Me iudice, in my opinion, life is like juggling... Things come at you―balls, clubs, knives, sorrow, loss. Either you stand there and let them hit you or you throw them back pugnis et calcibus, with all your might.”
― Karen Cushman, Will Sparrow's Road

“Ladies, it seems, seldom have strong feelings and, if they do, never never let them show. God’s thumbs! I always have strong feelings and they are quite painful until I let them out, like a cow who needs to give milk and bellows with the pain in her”
― Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy

“I want to remake the world; anything less is not worth the trouble.”
― Karen Cushman

“19TH DAY OF OCTOBER, Feast of Saint Frideswide, virgin, though why that should make someone a saint I do not know”
― Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy

“Alyce," she breathed. Alyce sounded clean and smart. You could love someone maned Alyce. She looked back at the face in the water. "This is me, Alyce." It was right. So the newly called Alyce shifted the pack on her shoulders, and with her head back and bare feet solid on the ground, she headed back to the midwife's cottage and never noticed when it grew dark, for heat and light were within her.”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“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, Catherine, Called Birdy

“I have been gathering violets to make oil of violets against attacks of melancholy. Since I turned thirteen last year I have used a great amount of oil of violets.”
― Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy