The Plague and I Quotes

“I am neither Christian enough nor charitable enough to like anybody just because he is alive and breathing. I want people to interest or amuse me. I want them fascinating and witty or so dull as to be different. I want them either intellectually stimulating or wonderfully corny; perfectly charming or hundred percent stinker. I like my chosen companions to be distinguishable from the undulating masses and I don't care how.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“We thought about Thanksgiving, planned for Thanksgiving and talked of Thanksgiving for weeks beforehand, but the evening before the actual day was the best time of all. Then the house seethed with children and dogs, with friends and cooks, and with delightful smells of baking pie, turkey stuffing and coffee. Every time the doorbell rang we put on another pot of coffee and washed the cups and by the time we went to bed we were so nervous and flighty that when accidentally bumped or brushed against, we buzzed and lit up like pin-ball machines.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“Mental sunshine makes the mind grow, and perpetual happiness makes human nature a flower garden in bloom.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“I learned that a stiff test for friendship is: “Would she be pleasant to have t.b. with?” Unfortunately, too many people, when you try separating them from their material possessions and any and all activity, turn out to be like cheap golf balls. You unwind and unwind and unwind but you never get to the pure rubber core because there isn’t any.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“imperiousness”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“Trying to gather up my thoughts was as futile as trying to pick up spilled mercury. I had two big main depressing thoughts and each time I touched them they broke into many little morbid pieces.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“Taking the cure is going to be difficult for you. You have red hair—lots of energy, you’re quick, active, impatient. All bad for tuberculosis. Discipline will be hard for you. The cure of tuberculosis is all discipline.”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I

“I learned that a stiff test for friendship is: “Would she be pleasant to have t.b. with?”
― Betty MacDonald, The Plague and I