Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)

by L.M. Montgomery

It is never pleasant to have our old shrines desecrated, even when we have outgrown them.

revenge hurts nobody quite so much as the one who tries to inflict it.

all pioneers are considered to be afflicted with moonstruck madness.”

feeling is so different from knowing.

there are times when common sense has no power over me. Common nonsense takes...

unwitting that those who can soar to the highest heights can also plunge to the deepest depths, and that the natures which enjoy most keenly are those which also suffer most sharply.

“Life seems like a cup of glory held to my lips just now. But there must be some bitterness in it—there is in every cup. I shall taste mine someday. Well, I hope I shall be strong and brave to meet it. And I hope it won’t be through my own fault that it will come.

Facts are stubborn things, but, as someone has wisely said, not half so stubborn as fallacies.

Isn’t it strange how people misunderstand each other, Anne?” “Most of the trouble in life comes from misunderstanding, I think,” said Anne.

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.

“How many girls were you, Aunt Jimsie?” “About half a dozen, my dear.”

It was November—the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.

“I like people to have a little nonsense about them.

“Just think of all the great and noble souls who have lived and worked in the world,” said Anne dreamily. “Isn’t it worthwhile to come after them and inherit what they won and taught? And think of all the great people in the world today! Isn’t it worthwhile to think we can share their inspiration? And then, all the great souls that will come in the future? Isn’t it worthwhile to work a little and prepare the way for them—make just one step in their path easier?”

‘Humor is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them.’

‘There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves—so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful.’

Oh, Anne, things are so mixed-up in real life. They aren’t clear-cut and trimmed off, as they are in novels.”