Anne: The Green Gables Complete Collection

by L.M. Montgomery

When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different—something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth.

She was his at last, this evasive, long-sought Anne, won after years of patient waiting. It was to him she was coming in the sweet surrender of the bride. Was he worthy of her? Could he make her as happy as he hoped? If he failed her—if he could not measure up to her standard of manhood—then, as she held out her hand, their eyes met and all doubt was swept away in a glad certainty. They belonged to each other; and, no matter what life might hold for them, it could never alter that. Their happiness was in each other's keeping and both were unafraid.

The milk of human kindness and the wisdom of the serpent were mingled in his composition in delightful proportions.

"Marilla, Anne has sent me to tell you that a certain young gentleman has arrived here. He hasn't brought much luggage with him, but he evidently means to stay."

An original birth announcement if you needed one!

God doesn't make bargains. He gives . . . gives without asking anything from us in return except love.

"Susan says it is God who makes everything beautiful but we can help Him out a bit, can't we, Mums?" "Always . . . always, Jem. He shares that privilege with us."

An imagination is a wonderful thing to have . . . but like every gift we must possess it and not let it possess us.

When that over-harbour doctor married the undertaker's daughter at Lowbridge people felt suspicious of him. It didn't look well.

😂😂😂

The body grows slowly and steadily, but the soul grows by leaps and bounds. It may come to its full stature in an hour. From that night Rilla Blythe's soul was the soul of a woman in its capacity for suffering, for strength, for endurance.

I've had time to—to rebel and grow reconciled. We must give him up. There is a Call greater and more insistent than the call of our love—he has listened to it. We must not add to the bitterness of his sacrifice."

Such insight into the experience of those giving up their sons to the war

"if he was turned into a good man he would understand how dreadful the things he has done are, and he would feel so terrible about it that he would be more unhappy and miserable than he could ever be in any other way.

The worst wish for Hitler: that he be made a good man.

She had nothing to love, and that is about as unwholesome a condition as is possible to anyone.

'Don't you think, Mr. Blair,' she says, 'that the older we get the more things ought to matter to us?'

It's not the normal way to grow old and care less

Mr. Leonard thought rightly that the highest work to which any man could be called was a life of service to his fellows; but he made the mistake of supposing the field of service much narrower than it is—of failing to see that a man may minister to the needs of humanity in many different but equally effective ways.

And don't we still sometimes believe the full time pastor or missionary is a level above the rest in ministering to people..?

He had learned the rare secret that you must take happiness when you find it—that there is no use in marking the place and coming back to it at a more convenient season, because it will not be there then.

It was a shame that a girl like Sara should grow up in a place like White Sands, "with no advantages and no education," said Mrs. Adair scornfully, not understanding that wisdom and knowledge are two entirely different things.

The light fell through the stained-glass window in a soft tangle of hues upon the floor.

Such a perfect description!