South Riding Quotes

“We're so busy resigning ourselves to the inevitable that we don't even ask if it is inevitable. We've got to have courage, to take our future into our hands. If the law is oppressive, we must change the law. If tradition is obstructive, we must break tradition. If the system is unjust, we must reform the system.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“But questioning does not mean the end of loving, and loving does not mean the abnegation of intelligence”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“Go therefore, and do that which is within you to do. Take no heed of gestures that beckon you aside. Ask of no man permission to perform.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“Lydia delighted her. The girl's roughness, her ability, her exuberance, were qualities desired by Sarah for her children. You could make something out of a girl like that. She had power.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“Oh, lovely world,' thought Sarah, in love with life and all its varied richness.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“To choose, to take, with clear judgement and open eyes; to count the cost and pay it; to regret nothing; to go forward, cutting losses, refusing to complain, accepting complete responsibility for their own decisions - this was the code which she attempted to impress upon the children who came under her influence - the code on which she set herself to act.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“For she was clever. It had not been a lie then, that ecstasy which had visited her when she read A Midsummer Night's Dream on top of the railway coach last summer. It had meant something. She had understood something. She was drunk with an intoxicating wine of gladness.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding

“But I'm not one to condemn you. Because for years I've thought far more of Carne than was good for me - or Jim. Mind you, I don't say I loved him the way you did. More as a son. I'm an old woman. But when you're seventy you don't always feel old. I know I don't. There are times when you find yourself thinking of yourself as a girl.”
― Winifred Holtby, South Riding