Ginny > Ginny's Quotes

“Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Swiftly Tilting Planet

“It is evening. The moon is small, and new. There are stars, and a stream's sound, and I can hear the wings of insects, in the dark. I think what gifts we are given, such gifts--every day.”
― Susan Fletcher, Corrag

“Ever wonder if you've done the right thing?" I asked him finally.
"Frequently," he replied. "Legalities notwithstanding, to not wonder indicates a dangerous lack of awareness of the near-infinite array of choices presented by life. More tea?”
― Karen Lord, The Best of All Possible Worlds

“My dear, I'm seldom sure of anything. Life at best is a precarious business, and we aren't told that difficult or painful things won't happen, just that it matters. It matters not just to us but to the entire universe.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, An Acceptable Time

“Once down by the shore, only Temeraire went directly into the deep water and began to swim. Maximus came tentatively into the shallows, but went no further than he could stand, and Lily stood on the shore watching, nosing at the water but not going in. Levitas, as was his habit, first wavered on the shore, and then dashed out all at once, splashing and flapping wildly with his eyes tightly shut until he got out to the deeper water and began to paddle enthusiastically.”
― Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon

“Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.”
― Boris Pasternak

“All my tales are true, drawn from life, and a life story is not a tidy thing.”
― Karen Lord, Redemption in Indigo

“We are speaking different languages, as always, but that doesn't change the things we talk about.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

“In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting.

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.”
― C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

“Let's sum up... a little house, white and green or to be made so... with trees, preferably birch and spruce... a window looking seaward... on a hill. That sounds very possible... but there is one other requirement. There must be magic about it, Jane... lashings of magic... and magic houses are scarce, even on the Island. Have you any idea at all what I mean, Jane?"

Jane reflected.

"You want to feel that the house is yours before you buy it," she said.

"Jane," said dad, "you are too good to be true.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill

“I believe that love is better than hate. And that there is more nobility in building a chicken coop than in destroying a cathedral.”
― Bette Greene, Summer of My German Soldier

“I was a late bloomer. But anyone who blooms at all, ever, is very lucky.”
― Sharon Olds

“Things might have been a lot worse. Don’t you worry about it overmuch. When a thing’s done, it’s done, and if it’s not done right, do it differently next time.”
― Arthur Ransome, Swallowdale

“Temeraire said, 'It is very nice how many books there are, indeed. And on so many subjects!”
― Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon

“You write not for children but for yourself. And if by good fortune children enjoy what you enjoy, why then you are a writer of children's books.”
― Arthur Ransome

“This is the place. I was certain. For the heart knows its home when it finds it, and on finding it, stays there.”
― Susan Fletcher, Corrag

“Wenn ein Kind lesen gelernt hat und gerne liest, entdeckt und erobert es eine zweite Welt, das Reich der Buchstaben. Das Land des Lesens ist ein geheimnisvoller, unendlicher Erdteil. Aus Druckerschwärze entstehen Dinge, Menschen, Geister und Götter, die man sonst nicht sehen könnte. Wer noch nicht lesen kann, sieht nur, was greifbar vor seiner Nase liegt oder steht (...) Wer lesen kann, sitzt über einem Buch und erblickt mit einem Male den Kilimandscharo oder Karl den Großen oder Huckleberry Finn im Gebüsch oder Zeus als Stier, und auf seinem Rücken reitet die schöne Europa. Wer lesen kann, hat ein zweites Paar Augen, und er muss nur aufpassen, dass er sich dabei das erste Paar nicht verdirbt.”
― Erich Kästner, Als ich ein kleiner Junge war

“In the first few seconds an aching sadness wrenched his heart, but it soon gave way to a feeling of sweet disquiet, the excitement of gypsy wanderlust”
― Mikhail Bulgakov

“What had changed things? What had made the difference?

She had. All by herself.”
― Jim Butcher, The Aeronaut's Windlass

“Ah, what stars there are in the Ukraine. I’ve been living in Moscow almost seven years, but I still feel drawn to my homeland. My heart aches, I get a terrible urge to board a train and be off. To see the cliffs covered in”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, A Country Doctor's Notebook

“Do I express my thoughts lucidly?
I think I do.
What is my life? An absurdity.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov

“Russia! Russia! What is the incomprehensible, mysterious force that draws me to you? Why does your mournful song, carried along your whole length and breadth from sea to sea, each and re-echo incessantly in my ears? What is there in that song? What is it that calls, and sobs, and clutches at my heart? What are those sounds that caress me so poignantly, that go straight to my soul and twine about my heart? Russia! What do you want from me? What is that mysterious, hidden bond between us?”
― Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls

“When I was a little boy and we were leaving Russia for some reason... my parents told me to say that we're moving to Belarus. Then we came to America and my parents like to say that we're FROM Belarus... I think so they don't hate us for being Russian. I guess we might actually be from Belarus, but I honestly don't know much about it. As they say, little lies become big lies, so most days, I like to think I'm from Paris.”
― Dmitry Dyatlov