The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax Quotes

“In the morning when Mrs. Pollifax awoke she realized at once that a fateful day was beginning. She lay and thought about this dispassionately, almost wonderingly, because to every life there eventually came a moment when one had to accept the fact that the shape, the pattern, the direction of the future was entirely out of one's hands, to be decided unalterably by chance, by fate or by God. There was nothing to do but accept, and from this to proceed, doing the very best that could be done.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“If life was like a body of water, she had asked that she be allowed to walk again in its shallows; instead she had been abruptly seized by strong currents and pushed into deep water.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“You haven't been planting seeds of insurrection, have you, Duchess?"
"Well, it's a change from planting geraniums," she retorted.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“She drew herself up to her full height—it was a little difficult on a donkey—and said primly, “I have always found that in painful situations it is a sensible idea to take each hour as it comes and not to anticipate beyond. But oh how I wish I could have a bath!”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“It wasn’t that she had so much character, thought Mrs. Pollifax, but rather that always in her life she had found it difficult to submit.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“there was no safety anywhere in life, except as illusion”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“But that is precisely what life is, wouldn’t you agree? Everything is a matter of choice, and when we choose are we not gambling on the unknown and its being a wise choice? And isn’t it free choice that makes individuals of us? We are eternally free to choose ourselves and our futures. I believe myself that life is quite comparable to a map like this, a constant choice of direction and route.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“to every life there eventually came a moment when one had to accept the fact that the shape, the pattern, the direction of the future was entirely out of one’s hands, to be decided unalterably by chance, by fate or by God.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“It’s terribly important for everyone, at any age, to live to his full potential. Otherwise a kind of dry rot sets in, a rust, a disintegration of personality.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“It struck her as extremely characterless for any human being to sit around waiting for execution. It wasn’t that she had so much character, thought Mrs. Pollifax, but rather that always in her life she had found it difficult to submit. The list of her small rebellions was endless. Surely there was room for one more?”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“She looked at Farrell because there was nothing else to look at.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“Mrs. Pollifax wondered why, when she was being her most serious, people found her so amusing.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“He added pointedly,”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

“to remain alive inside was far more intricate and difficult and defeating.”
― Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax