Jules > Jules's Quotes

“Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to.”
― Thornton Wilder, Our Town

“Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

“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

“That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

“With mental illness the trick is to not take your feelings so seriously; you’re zooming in and zooming away from things that go from being too important to being not important at all.”
― Mark Vonnegut, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So

“The biggest gift of being unambiguously mentally ill is the time I've saved myself trying to be normal.”
― Mark Vonnegut, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So

“I understand perfectly why some of my autistic patients scream and flap their arms--it's to frighten off extroverts”
― Mark Vonnegut, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So

“When I talk to the National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI) and other patient
support groups, I take questions at the
end. At one talk I was asked, “What’s
the difference between yourself and
someone without mental illness?”

At another talk I was asked, “How do
you make the voices be not so mean?”

I wish I knew.”
― Mark Vonnegut, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So

“Why shouldn't the living cords which lace our being together flick softly against a loved one in the very moment of their unraveling?...Sometimes, all the miles between are as nothing, sometimes, they are narrowed to the little silence between the beats of a heart.”
― Colleen McCullough, Tim

“She said nothing in a manner that conveyed volumes. I said nothing in a manner that I hoped conveyed my complete innocence. She said nothing in a manner that conveyed her disbelief in my complete innocence. I said nothing in a manner that conveyed my hurt at this lack of trust in me. She said nothing in a manner that effortlessly conveyed the message that Dr Bairstow wished to see me at his earliest convenience and to collect Dr Peterson while I was at it.”
― Jodi Taylor, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

“In an organisation that already contains you, Dr Maxwell, the acquisition of any further irritants would be superfluous.”
― Jodi Taylor, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

“Will he be able to understand us, sir? It’s a foreign language over there. I’ve heard they spell plough with a “w”?’ ‘I share your horror,’ he said, ‘but since I have the strongest doubts that anyone in the History Department can spell the word plough in any language, I do not feel this is an insurmountable barrier to admission at St Mary’s.”
― Jodi Taylor, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

“The screaming redoubled. You put dinosaurs and people together, you always get screaming.”
― Jodi Taylor, Just One Damned Thing After Another

“There’s something very satisfying about outwitting religious fanaticism.”
― Jodi Taylor, No Time Like the Past

“If in doubt, make some tea.”
― Jodi Taylor, Just One Damned Thing After Another

“Here’s a thing I believe about people my age: we are the children of Hogwarts, and more than anything, we just want to be sorted.”
― Robin Sloan, Sourdough

“Do you know how to pick loc–’ Rosie’s question is interrupted by Amy taking a large rock and smashing one of Scroggie’s back windows. ‘Ah, I see you do.”
― Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

“I never take offense,” says Tony. “Saved me a lot of time over the years.”
― Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

“Have you ever shot anyone before?’ Rosie asks Steve, while snapping through Amy’s cable ties. ‘No,’ says Steve. ‘But the Coldplay T-shirt made it easier.”
― Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

“at the very least, you made it through to the end. Unless you are one of those people who reads the acknowledgments first, in which case I honestly believe you are a dangerous sociopath.”
― Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

“There are friendships forged in fire, which end up disappearing like smoke, and other casual, nodding friendships, which will stay with you for the rest of your life.”
― Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

“Maybe grief is love imploding. Or maybe it’s love expanding. I don’t know. I just know you can’t create loss to preempt loss because it doesn’t work that way. So you might as well love as much as you can. And as recklessly. Like it’s your last resort, because it is.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“And this may be the only reason we were put on this earth. To say to each other, I know how you feel. To say, Same. To say, I understand how hard it is to be a parent, a kid. To say, Your shell stank and you’re sad. I’ve been there.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“People who insist that you should be grateful instead of complaining? They maybe don’t understand how much gratitude one might feel about the opportunity to complain.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Despair laced through with so much incredible beauty. We just keep showing up for each other. Even through the mystery of other people’s grief. What else is there?”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Who wants a guy to last longer? Finish up is my feeling. My library book’s not going to read itself!”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Mom, try not to hurt your own feelings for no reason,” Willa says. This is sensible advice.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“I’ve heard grief described as love with nowhere to go.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Why do we love everyone so recklessly and then break our own hearts? And they don’t even break. They just swell, impossibly, with more love.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Willa once shared her theory that finding a four-leaf clover was a symptom of luck, not a cause. “It just means you have the kind of life where there are growing things and you have time to look at them,” she said. I think she was actually making a point about class privilege? But I like to imagine that luck is everywhere, even before you find it.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich