The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Quotes

“Two paths leading to a love. Both true. A different shape of happiness to be found with each. Which path you take? Depends on many things. What you choose. What they choose. A thousand other decisions, or possibly very few. One you would love deeply. One you would love completely. One sharp as a knife. One a game of mirrors.One more difficult. One less free. Both inheritors to the line that refused to die when your first heart was buried.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“That every day should leave some part Free for a sabbath of the heart.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“one can love many places and still miss home.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“One should go away long enough to know the cotton-soft contentment of coming home.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Question: Ought I read the papers more than I do? Answer: Likely. However: Books.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Women with pockets are a threat to the male sex.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Manners must prevail! When they suit one's situation, that is.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“He was never ours to begin with. Some things have to be let go. They weren’t made to stay.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“I have experienced something I can’t quite understand.” Hawkes waited, then, “A state I’ve known.” “What do you do with it?” “I wait on the shore of the mystery to see what the tide will bring.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Aunt Eugenia sniffed, “Yes, well if you read only Exodus, I approve. But if I hear tell you’ve been spending time in the New Testament, I shall remove your Bible entirely.”
“Why is that Aunt?”
“Paul.”
“Paul?”
“Paul. Paul, with his charity above all. Paul, who feels free to chastise us all like schoolchildren. Paul, always harping on long-suffering. I’ve no patience for it.”
“Understood. I’ll read Exodus to the dust and avoid the Apostle Paul in both his pre- and post-conversion state,” I replied. “It is settled.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Gossip and meanness have a way of making one feel beaten down”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“At time I feel my body has betrayed the girl I was, growing past the lithe limbs hewn in independence. We are to be fit for the purposes of adulthood, I know this. Childhood anticipations are traded with the shouldering of heavier things. But these days, these stones-tossed-in-tall-grass-days, have stretched my muscles, recalled past forms, and I am remembering how it is to feel, to follow the instincts of something young yet ancient. To step outside the province of maturity and marvel.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Lose the occasional member of the family so the family fortune Remains Intact.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“I refrained from making a long-suffering expression.

I did not.
Long-suffering expression was made.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Things that ought to come with warnings rarely do.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“For example, why was Sarah chastised for laughing at the angel who told her she would bear a child. At ninety! I would have fallen about in absolute stitches, promise or no promise, mind you! The angel would have had to repeat himself three, possibly four, times. I know there is the business of faith in God’s promises, and believing angels is wise to do, but I feel there was some justifiable amusement to be had.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Miss Lion,”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“As if Maggie took the whole of delight on offer to everyone and used it all for her own gain. No room for the enjoyments of others. Her freedom would always come at the cost of someone else’s liberty. Another way to say it: Fire steals away oxygen”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“It’s time to leave this room”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Solitude of the deepest kind,” Islington shrugged. “Independence of soul not simply of choice”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Now”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“She seemed to be the sort of person who liked the attention of a shocking statement without the responsibility of giving it any foundation.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“I’ve long developed a habit of not growing accustomed to people”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“I shaved my beard only last week.” “Well done. Though the beard is more forgivable than the mustache on most men.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“My constitution is robust.” “I know you think that by stating a thing it becomes absolute truth”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Forgive yourself for having let yourself down”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“We need the tonic of wildness… At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“it struck me that there are people in this world—usually men—who are doing other things, like walking long, grass-lined roads and thinking poetry and spangled thoughts. Men like Whitman. Or those who study great lives of ages past, recording them for a thousand generations after. Men like Plutarch. Or men who toil in enchanted islands and cold places called Elsinore, weaving magic and tragedy, and selling the tale to those willing to approach the altar of the stage. Men like Shakespeare.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“Parian is becoming something of a chum.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8

“It isn’t that I’m looking to become another Mrs. Morrow, but the idea of this fledgling family is…almost like watching the beginning of a story.”
― Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 8