Shoulder the Sky Quotes

“may sound strange to American readers that by “eating their own lambs” the Heddles were breaking the law. The fact is that during the war, and for several years after, the people of Britain were strictly rationed. Each person was provided with a book containing coupons for food and clothing. Rationed food included meat, eggs, bacon, cheese, sugar, tea, butter, and fats, etc., etc. The coupons were given up every week for the food. In this way everyone was able to obtain a fair share of the very limited supply of necessary food. Greedy people who had no conscience and plenty of money were able to obtain extra food “under the counter” but the law was strictly enforced. Even farmers were not allowed to kill and eat their own animals, so by killing and eating their lambs the Heddles were liable to severe penalties. The rations allowed by law were very frugal and everybody lost weight but it did us no harm and we were doing it as part of the war effort so nobody grumbled. Many factories in Britain were requisitioned to make precision instruments and other articles which were needed for the war so it soon became impossible to buy clocks and kettles and pots and pans and hairpins. D.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Silly people are often cruel,” said Adam. “You know that yourself. People with no imagination are cruel because they don’t realise what other people are suffering.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“don’t like the term,” said Rhoda frankly. “It’s too loosely used nowadays when everybody who has the smallest talent or is out of the ordinary in any way is immediately hailed as a genius;”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“When we’re young we make our beds and when we’re older we have to lie on them. I’d make myself a comfortable bed if I were you—straight and tidy with the blankets well tucked in at the foot—then it’ll not come adrift when you lie in it. If a bed’s not properly made at the start the blankets’ll maybe fall off in the night and you’ll wake up shivering”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“A particular feature of Stevenson’s oeuvre is the way in which characters that appear in one book may crop up in another context in a quite different title. Readers like this because in a way it reflects the way the world is; our lives are not linear narratives–they are meandering stories that take place in diverse settings and that are peopled by characters who drop in and out at various stages.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“In Mureth House there was not only physical comfort but mental and spiritual comfort as well. You could be yourself here. You could say what you liked without the slightest fear of being misunderstood and you could do what you liked without the slightest fear of giving offence.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“D.E. Stevenson
Winter and Rough Weather “I’m not really worrying, but it’s very isolated. Boscath is like an island in some ways.” “I see what you mean,” nodded Jock. “And Rhoda isn’t used to islands.” James Dering and his new wife”
― D.E. Stevenson, Winter and Rough Weather

“Shoulder the sky,’” said Nan smiling. “Do you know A. E. Housman’s poems? I think it helps a lot to find that other people have troubles, and understand what it feels like to be unhappy. Poets seem to know a lot about unhappiness. Here’s something that has helped me.” She hesitated for a moment and then quoted the lines: “The troubles of our proud and angry dust Are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.” “‘Shoulder the sky,’” said Rhoda. “It’s a sort of clarion call, isn’t it? He makes it sound a worth-while job.” “It’s a big job, but not too big. ‘Bear them we can, and if we can we must.’ At first I thought he had put it the wrong way round, but the more you think about it the more you realize that his way is right.” Rhoda nodded thoughtfully. “‘And drink your ale,’” added Nan with a brave smile. “Don’t go moping about and making everybody else miserable. ‘Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.’” *”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“They understood one another perfectly. They trusted one another. They were useful to one another. That was the ideal relationship of one human being to another human being . . . usefulness . . . to take and give service.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Loneliness is inside a person . . . It is possible to be lonely in a big city. If a person is contented and has enough work to do he will not feel lonely amongst the hills.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“The relationship between a brother and sister is peculiar in the sense that it is unique for it is the only one in which the two sexes can meet as equals on a purely personal basis. No brother thinks of his sister as a woman and few sisters can see their brothers as men. For this reason there can be real friendship between them.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“She was sitting and thinking . . . when a tiny flower fell onto her plate. This was no miracle of course, the explanation was simple, Rhoda had picked some sprays of viburnum fragrans in the kitchen garden. . . . She had brought them in and arranged them in a bowl and placed them in the middle of the table―there was no more to it than that. Rhoda was about to brush the flower from her plate when suddenly the perfection of it struck her . . . one tiny flower-head but quite perfect. It was so small and insignificant that she herself who had picked the sprays and arranged them had not noticed the beauty of it.

. . . The thought of the small insignificant thing with its perfection of beauty remained with her and gave her happiness. The floweret had dropped onto her plate. Look, it said. Here I am―and there are millions like me―and each one of us is perfect―perfectly beautiful. Here's your world. It's full of beauty. Be happy in it.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“here it was again, clamping down upon his spirit, drying up his mouth, fluttering like an imprisoned bird in his bosom.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Bear them we can, and if we can we must.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Rhoda was seldom shocked but this shocked her. It was not only the words but the casual scornful tone in which they were uttered and, perhaps most of all, the unkindness that shocked her. Rhoda had lived in London on her own and, mixing with all sorts and conditions of people, had heard a good many arguments for and against the existence of an after life; but although the arguments had been closely reasoned and occasionally had led to fierce altercations, this cold-hearted bitterness was a thousand times worse. “That comforts you, doesn’t it, Anna?” repeated Mr. Heddle, insisting upon an answer to his question. “Yes — it does — really,” said Miss Heddle in a low voice. “Why shouldn’t it?” demanded Rhoda truculently. “Because it’s false comfort,” replied Mr. Heddle turning and looking at Rhoda with a baleful eye. “And because people like Anna who comfort themselves with false hopes are cowards at heart. They can’t face up to this life so they bolster themselves up with the idea that there will be a better one. I suppose you believe in a Heaven, Above the Bright Blue Sky?” “Yes,” replied Rhoda with spirit. “Have you never looked through a telescope?” asked Mr. Heddle in a patient voice, such as one might use to a moron. “At night a telescope reveals stars which are so far off that the light from them takes millions of years to reach this earth. Where is your Heaven?” “It’s somewhere,” Rhoda said. “I’m quite sure of that in spite of your telescope. When I was a child I didn’t know where Australia was. Now I know where it is. Someday, when I’ve grown up a bit more, I shall know where Heaven is.” “It’s”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Loneliness is inside a person,” replied Sutherland. “It is possible to be lonely in a big city. If a person is contented and has enough work to do he will not feel lonely amongst the hills … but it is a wee bit out of the way and would not do for a man with young children who were attending school. All the same it is a solid little house and comfortable. If you are going in that direction Mistress Sutherland would be pleased to give you a cup of tea.” Rhoda”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“The Adventures of Dickson McCunn, Adam Bede, Eric or Little by Little, these and many others, old and new, good bad and indifferent were grist to Duggie’s mill. He found a novel by Rhoda Broughton entitled Not Wisely But Too Well and read it all through. He read an abridged version of Robinson Crusoe, and Under Two Flags and Coral Island with equal concentration. He read Little Women and Wuthering Heights. Cheyney he found difficult, for the people seemed to speak an unfamiliar language, but he struggled on manfully all the same. Needless”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Now listen,” said Daniel gravely. “Just you listen to me and I’ll tell you something worth remembering. When we’re young we make our beds and when we’re older we have to lie on them. I’d make myself a comfortable bed if I were you — straight and tidy with the blankets well tucked in at the foot — then it’ll not come adrift when you lie in it. If a bed’s not properly made at the start the blankets’ll maybe fall off in the night and you’ll wake up shivering.” He nodded to Duggie in a friendly manner and away he went with his dog bounding gracefully beside him. Duggie watched him until he disappeared. Daniel”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“Shoulder the Sky is another story about Mureth Farm and Drumburly and the people who live there; it continues the theme of Vittoria Cottage and Music in the Hills but it is a complete novel in itself. The three books are merely strung together by the story of James and Rhoda and their friends. Mureth and Drumburly are not real places in the geographical sense of the word. There is no metalled road that leads to Drumburly (the best road to take is an easy chair before the fire on a winter’s evening), but the picture represented is artistically true of the Scottish Border Country; of the rolling hills, the rivers and the burns, of the storms and the sunshine. So, in one sense, Drumburly is real and in another it is imaginary — and the same is true of the characters in the story; they are not real individuals and yet they are true to life. To me they are real and human for I have been living amongst them and sharing their joys and sorrows for months on end. Now the time has come for me to leave Drumburly and say good-bye. D. E. STEVENSON ”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky

“The troubles of our proud and angry dust Are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Shoulder the Sky