Laura > Laura's Quotes

“What the future held for her she didn't know. Of two things only she was certain. There would be children-her own or other people's-and there would be books.”
― Alice Dalgliesh, The Silver Pencil

“Kids are baby goats. They're cute and they have redeeming social value. You are definitely not kids.”
― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena

“A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.”
― Alan Rickman

“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her.

I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!’

‘Well,’ I said, slightly nonplussed, ‘the last time you saw me I’d just had a baby.’

What I felt like saying was, ‘I’ve produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren’t either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?’ But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.”
― J.K. Rowling

“Safety first, Scarlet-friend. We are fragile things.”
― Marissa Meyer, Winter

“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”
― Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

“A light like the glint of water on dewy grass flashed from under her feet as she danced.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“There comes a moment when time seems to slip faster, running long then short, shadows shrinking as the sun climbs. It’s the moment, he decided, when you’re no longer a child. When the concept of time and the need for more of it come together and make you powerless. Make you yearn for the longer days, the lazy days, before you knew what time passing actually meant.”
― Tara Sim, Timekeeper

“I do not know everything; still many things I understand.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

“Like and equal are not the same thing at all.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

“People are more than just the way they look.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

“Euripedes. Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

“It is the essence of power that it accrues to those with the ability to determine the nature of the real.”
― Arthur Miller, The Crucible

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's
why.”
― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

“You — you strange — you almost unearthly thing! — I love as my own flesh. You — poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are — I entreat to accept me as a husband.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Her coming was my hope each day,
Her parting was my pain;
The chance that did her steps delay
Was ice in every vein.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“Your will shall decide your destiny.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I'll walk where my own nature would be leading. It vexes me to choose another guide.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“He made me love him without looking at me.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I am paving hell with energy... I am laying down good intentions which I believe durable as flint.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Mademoiselle is a fairy," he said, whispering mysteriously.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“What necessity is there to dwell on the Past, when the Present is so much surer-the Future so much brighter?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Jane, I never meant to wound you thus...Will you ever forgive me?"

Reader, I forgave him at the moment and on the spot.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“To talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“As I exclaimed 'Jane! Jane! Jane!' a voice- I cannot tell whence the voice came, but I know whose voice it was- replied, 'I am coming: wait for me;' and a moment after, went whispering on the wind the words- 'Where are you?' "I'll tell you, if I can, the idea, the picture these words opened to my mind: yet it is difficult to express what I want to express. Ferndean is buried, as you see, in a heavy wood, where sound falls dull, and dies unreverberating. 'Where are you?' seemed spoken amongst mountains; for I heard a hill-sent echo repeat the words. Cooler and fresher at the moment the gale seemed to visit my brow: I could have deemed that in some wild, lone scene, I and Jane were meeting. In spirit, I believe we must have met. You no doubt were, at that hour, in unconscious sleep, Jane: perhaps your soul wandered from its cell to comfort mine; for those were your accents- as certain as I live- they were yours!" Reader, it was on Monday night- near midnight- that I too had received the mysterious summons: those were the very words by which I replied to it.
(Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre)”
― Charlotte Brontë , Jane Eyre

“Tell me now, fairy as you are - can't you give me a charm, or a philter, or something of that sort, to make me a handsome man?"
"It would be past the power of magic, sir;" and, in thought, I added, "A loving eye is all the charm needed: to such you are handsome enough; or rather, your sternness has a power beyond beauty."
Mr. Rochester had sometimes read my unspoken thoughts with an acumen to me incomprehensible: in the present instance he took no notice of my abrupt vocal response; but he smiled at me with a certain smile he had of his own, and which he used but on rare occasions. He seemed to think too good for common purpose: it was the real sunshine of feeling - he shed it over me now.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer; it seemed scattered on the wind then faintly blowing.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Gentle, soft dream, nestling in my arms now, you will fly, too, as your sisters have all fled before you: but kiss me before you go--embrace me, Jane.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“His presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre