Five Windows Quotes

“Malcolm opened the door of the little shed and busied himself lighting the stove. He used the stove to warm the shed so that he could bring the lambs in and warm them. Most hill lambs are hardy and need little care, but some of them, when they arrive in a cold wet world, decide it is not worth the struggle. It was Malcolm’s job to coax them to live and usually he succeeded.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“You’re just the same, David. You don’t like talking about anything unpleasant.” “ Who does! ” I exclaimed. “ But it’s like an ostrich, burying its head in the sand! ” “ Not really,” I said thoughtfully. “ It’s better to be happy and think of nice things instead of being miserable and worrying over nasty things.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“behave like morons. It’s because they aren’t Christians.” “ But, Barbie——” began Nell. “ They don’t believe in God,” declared Barbie, putting her elbows on the table and fitting her chin into her cupped hands. “ They—don’t—believe—in God.” “ But they do! ” I exclaimed. “ They go to church——” “ Poof! ” said Barbie. “ They go to church and they say their prayers but that milk-and-watery sort of thing is no good. It wouldn’t move a feather, far less a mountain.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I’ll read it,” he said, smiling. “ But you needn’t worry. As long as you write about things that interest you your books will interest other people. Just keep on writing. Don’t stop.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“When at last a new clerk was engaged to take my place they were forced to believe it and were frankly envious. “ Gosh! ” exclaimed Wrigson. “ Fancy being able to lie in bed as long as you like! Fancy having nothing to do except amuse yourself! ” “ But that isn’t the idea at all,” I told him. “ I’m exchanging one job—which I’m not particularly good at—for another job which I hope to do better.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Do thy diligence to come before winter,” repeated Father. “ Paul was old and weary and he felt the approach of winter as old people still do. He felt the approach of death. He did not dread his passing for he knew that he would obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, but he longed to see the beloved face of Timothy before he died.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“The other day I said to Waldron I’d give him a book to read—any book he liked—and he said he never read anything except the papers. He said he liked true stories, not made-up ones. Then I said, what about history? And he said, ‘ That’s over and done with. All that matters to me is what happens between the time I was born and the time when I die.’ What can you do with a man like that, David?”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I do,” I said, laughing. “ I had enough dirt at the boarding-house to last me all my life.” “ She’ll want a bedside table and a lamp. If you come downstairs I’ll give them to you … and an eiderdown quilt. We must make her comfortable, you know. We don’t want her to say it’s a pig-sty and whisk you away.” “ I won’t let her whisk me away.” “ I’d be sorry. You and I get on pretty well together. The other tenants are not my style, I’ve nothing in common with them.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I laughed and showed him that I still had the five pennies left. “ How did you do it? ” he asked. “ Well, never mind now. Come and have supper with us on Sunday night; I’ll hear about it then. I told my wife the story of the cauliflowers and she wants to meet you.” I thanked him and accepted. To tell the truth I was not particularly anxious to go to supper with the Heatleys—the prospect alarmed me—but there was no way of getting out of it. Mr. Heatley’s invitation was in the nature of a Royal Command.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“You never thought of it! Here you are! ” said Mr. Heatley, fishing in his pocket. “ Take a pound. That ought to see you through.” “ No, sir. I don’t want it.” “ You don’t want it? ” “ I’d rather not,” I said. “ Why? ” he asked staring at me. This was difficult to answer because I had no idea why I did not want the money. “ Why? ” repeated Mr. Heatley. “ I want to be independent,” I replied, groping for words. “ It’s—it’s a sort of game, really. I want to manage on my own.” “ Oh well,” he said with a chuckle. “ It’s a sort of game, is it? A funny sort of game if you ask me! You’re a fool, Kirke, but perhaps it’s a pity there aren’t more fools of your kidney knocking about.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“As I walked to the office I felt well and happy. There was no hardship about it. The rough brown bread had a pleasant nutty flavour; it was filling and I had plenty to last me till Friday, so there was nothing to worry about. I thought of breakfast at Mrs. Hall’s; her “ guests ” would be eating greasy sausages or scrambled eggs swimming about in yellow water. I did not envy them. The only thing that annoyed me was the fact that I had put up with the discomforts of Mrs. Hall’s boarding-house for so long and had paid so much good money for so much bad food. It was incredibly foolish of me. As a matter of fact if I had not happened to see that notice in the window of Mr. Coe’s bookshop I should be there still!”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I had been watching the porters and it had looked easy; they swung the crates as if they were full of feathers, but I discovered that the crates were very heavy indeed, it took me all my time to lift them. I was soft, of course, for I had had very little exercise all the winter and I was unskilled into the bargain. The porters were amused at my attempts to help them but they were quite decent about it; probably they thought I was doing it for a joke.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“He knew them inside out. You may say his characters are overdrawn—the bad ones too bad and the good ones too good—but that’s a healthy way to see people, Kirke. In modern novels the good and the bad are mixed up so you never know where you are. More often than not the hero behaves like a cad and you’re expected to like him just the same. Give me Dickens,” said Mr. Coe earnestly. “ I know where I am with Dickens. The hero is good and the villain is bad—that’s what I like.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Mr. Mackenzie endeavoured to persuade me to buy a bed, but I refused for I had decided to have a new one. The bed in Mrs. Hall’s boarding-house with its queer musty smell had given me a horror of second-hand beds and bedding. My refusal pained Mr. Mackenzie and to soothe his injured feelings I consented to buy a large old-fashioned chest of drawers and a standard lamp with a parchment shade.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“It’s double Dutch,” declared the man in the check cap. “ That’s what it is.” “ Sounds like Danish to me,” said the man in evening dress. “ He looks like a Dane, too.” “ He’s a Scot,” I said, laughing. “ So am I. He’s offering me a lift home to Scotland, and I’d give my ears to take him at his word.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I started off down the road. Perhaps I should have been worrying about the fate of the green car and its occupants but the plain truth is that I was not worrying at all. The plain truth is I did not care a pin what happened to them. I was utterly fed up and disgusted with the whole crowd. It was my own fault of course. I should never have accepted the invitation to the party.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Somehow talking to him had made me feel better. He was sane and sensible—the first sane, sensible person I had spoken to for hours. As I walked back to the car I had an absurd feeling that I could be friends with that waiter. I wondered what his name was and where he lived … it was foolish, of course; I knew nothing about him, nothing except that he was sensible and kind.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“It was his choice rather than mine for I found Ned a depressing companion and although I needed a friend badly I knew that I could never be really friendly with Ned. To be friends with a person you must be able to share his interests and he must be able to share yours. Ned’s interests were different from mine and he did not care a brass pin what my interests were. In addition, Ned was an inveterate borrower.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“He never wants to know things about me,” continued Beryl. “ He always wants to tell me about himself.” “ Yes, he is rather like that, but he’s very fond of you.” She nodded. “ I know—but what’s the good? ” “ What’s the good? ” I echoed in surprise. “ He’ll never be anything. He’ll never make any money. A man like that isn’t any good to a girl.” I was dumb with amazement.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“They were all unhappy but I could do nothing to help them. Nobody could help them. Perhaps the worst part of it was their unkindness to one another—yes, that was the worst. I had never before met people like this: people who were bitter and unkind and hopeless, people who had no happiness in life nor any expectation of happiness”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“The worst of my troubles was loneliness. I had not a single friend nor any prospect of making one. The jostling crowds surged past me on the pavements (hordes of people chattering to one another) but I knew nobody and nobody knew me or cared whether I lived or died. If Miles had been here it would have been entirely different. We could have talked about our experiences and had jokes together. If Miles had been here I would not have minded what Wrigson and Ullenwood thought.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Ned Mottram had said, “ Wait till you’ve been here a week.” Long before I had been a week in London I had begun to think I could not bear it … and yet I knew I must. This was the life I had chosen for myself so I must make the best of it. Somehow or other I managed to write home cheerfully in answer to Mother’s anxious inquiries as to how I was getting on.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Ned had a monotonous voice and he went on talking. He talked and talked and he made everything sound hopeless and depressing. I had felt miserable enough before, but when at last I managed to get rid of him I felt absolutely wretched. I finished my unpacking and then pulled back the heavy curtains. I expected to see the lights of London, pinpoints of light from lamp-posts which lined the streets and chinks of lights from the windows of neighbouring houses, but there was nothing to see at all. I”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I am modiste. I ’ave a leetle place in Knightsbridge—verree chic. It is a verree good business; I sell gowns and ’ats to the verree best people. Some day when I ’ave made enough money I go back to Paree. I do not like London—no. Do you like London, Mistaire Kirke? ” “ I don’t know. I’ve only just come.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Looking back I remembered other occasions when Miles had let me down; this was not the first time—nor the second time. I had made excuses for him because I had admired him so tremendously.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“had written and warned Mr. Heatley that I was slow and he had replied that it did not matter—but would it? Supposing they found me too slow! Supposing the work was beyond me! The idea of plunging into an office amongst a lot of other clerks who knew their jobs was alarming to say the least of it.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“I began to realise that the world was different from what I had thought. Perhaps my home had been too sheltered. Perhaps I had been coddled—not coddled physically but mentally. Perhaps Mother had been right in saying that only children were too sensitive and it was much harder for them when they went out into the world and had their corners rubbed off. Uncle Matt had rubbed off one of my corners effectually; he had destroyed the illusion that you could depend upon grown-up people to be sensible and just.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“The stubborn old mule! ” he shouted. “ She’s crazy! I could have her locked up to-morrow! That would teach her a lesson and save a deal of trouble——” I had never seen anybody in such a fury before and to tell the truth I was terrified. I had heard that people sometimes had fits when they flew into rages and I expected that any minute Uncle Matt might fall down dead. I dodged past him and ran up the stairs, pursued by the sound of his voice, hoarse with anger.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“When it became too wet and cold for out-door expeditions we went to a picture-house together, and sometimes on a Saturday evening we went to the theatre and saw a play. I realised that all these expeditions were planned for my benefit but there was no doubt Uncle Matt enjoyed them as much as I did. He had a natural capacity for enjoyment, he was full of energy and there was a boyishness about him which made him an excellent companion.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows

“Will your client win her case? ” I asked. “ Win her case! I can tell you this: if she doesn’t win her case it will be a serious miscarriage of justice. Do you understand what that means, David? ” “ Yes,” I said, grinning at him. “ It means that the court doesn’t agree with you.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Five Windows