Random Quotes from Books

"So please, Oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in it's place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall."
--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

"Knowledge will not always take the place of simple observation."
--The Elephant and his son, Arnold Lobel

"Sometimes the feeling is more important than the word."
--Nobody Stole the Pie, Sonia Levitin

"I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking."
--Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White

"Some people talk in a whisper,
And some people talk in a drawl;
And some people talk-and-talk-and-talk-
and-talk-and-talk
And never say anything at all."
--Thoughts on the Talkers, Walter R. Brooks

"Front yards are boring.
Backyards tell stories."
--Backyards, James Stevenson

"Grown ups sure do a lot of pretending and call it politeness."
--Miss Charity Comes to Stay, Alberta Wilson Constant

"I speak quietly,
I do not sing,
I whisper, for beauty
is a fragile thing."
--Marigolds, Charlotte Zolotow

"Really, sometimes life just knocks me out!"
--The Alfred Summer, Jan Slepian

"I have no time to grow old... I am too busy for that.
It is very idle to grow old."
--The Golden Key, George MacDonald

"I am a bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."
--Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne

"And half the fun of nearly everything, you know, is thinking about it beforehand, or afterward."
--Uncle Wiggily's Story Book, Howard R. Garis

"The world is so you have something to stand on."
--A Hole is to Dig, Ruth Krauss

"Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order."
--The Crocodile in the Bathroom, Arnold Lobel

"It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper."
--Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

"Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom."
--The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White

(All of these quotes are from, "What the Door Mouse Said" and were collected by Amy Gash)

Words

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. --C. S. Lewis

The Blue Bowl

By Blanche Bane Kuder

All day I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds,
The shallow bowl you love the best-
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness might take its rest.


The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do, so little time!
I could not let my body tire;
Yet, when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow, graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step: I was not through


You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face,
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted-
"It's good to be at home," you said.

Elegy for Rose

By Carissa Mann


Sweet smelling,
Gorgeous,
Enchanting
I reach
And pluck
Ouch!


Now in water
In the center
Of our table
Petals the color of
Peaches and cream.
Wow.


Eating pancakes,
I notice
A change-
The rose is blushing!
Red petals tinged
With purple.


My friend
And I
Sip mint tea.
“Oh! How lovely.
A purple rose.”
I spy a hint of darkness.


Dusting the oak table,
I glance up
Rose is
Brown.
I pick up the petals
That have fallen.


Our table
Is bare,
Colorless.
Only memories
Of beauty
Remain.

Nature

By Carissa Mann

Outside my back door,

You surround me–

Grass pressed under my feet,

Birdsong on the air,

Perfume of wildflowers dancing,

A stream giggles past,

My hand rests on tree bark.

Outside the van window,
I see you again–
Sun slipping away,
Trees rushing past,
Birds in a line,
Pink and gold clouds,
Lengthening shadows.


Everywhere I look,
I discover you–
Hiding in a city park,
Sheltering me in a forest,
Sleeping in a campground,
Hurrying on a river,
Once again, you greet me.

A Few Random Quotes I Found and Liked...

"The really tough thing about humility is that you can't brag about it." Gene Brown

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." Rick Warren

"I don't suffer from insanity. I love it."

"'I am bored' generally means, 'I am boring.'" Dennis Prager

"The best time for planning a book is when you're doing the dishes." Agatha Christie

"The man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away." Charles Schwab

"You have to be an original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?" Bernadette Rodgers

Reading/ Book Quotes

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?
~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

(True! It's dangerous to bring money into a bookstore. I try not to. :))

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
~ Edmund Burke ~

(I need to work on this reflecting thing...)

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.
~ Samuel Butler ~

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child. (1952)
~ Mary Ellen Chase ~

(Not even TV or those talking toy things!)

Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune,
a genuine and passionate love of reading.
~ Rufus Choate ~

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
~ Marcus T. Cicero ~

(Well, in that case, we don't have a single room without a soul. :))

I often feel sorry for people who don't read good books;
they are missing a chance to lead an extra life.
~ Scott Corbett ~

(I feel sorry for them, too.)

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends;
they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors,
and the most patient of teachers.”
~ Charles W. Eliot ~

When I get a little money, I buy books;
and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.
~ Desiderius Erasmus 1466-1536 ~

(Maybe not the best economic advice, but still funny and somewhat like how we feel.)

Read in order to live.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~

If I read a book that impresses me,
I have to take myself firmly in hand,
before I mix with other people;
otherwise they would think my
mind rather queer. (1952)
~ Anne Frank ~

(*smiles*)

The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one
on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.
~ Benjamin Franklin ~

(That makes me sad just thinking about it!)

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
~ W. Fusselman ~

The first time I read an excellent work,
it is to me just as if I gained a new friend;
and when I read over a book I have perused before,
it resembles the meeting of an old one.
~ Sir James Goldsmith ~

The greatest gift is the passion for reading.
It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites,
it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.
It is a moral illumination.
~ Elizabeth Hardwick ~

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.
~ Gilbert Highet ~

(Interesting thought, eh?)

Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep,
for your habits and character will be as much
influenced by the former as the latter.
~ Paxton Hood~

(Very true. I've seen it.)

Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book.
~Charles Kingsley~

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky.
My pile of books
Are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard
By the time I read them.
~ Arnold Lobel ~

(well, I won't actually have a long beard, at least as far as I can tell... but I do have quite a pile.)

I must say that I find television very educational.
The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.
~ Groucho Marx ~

(Haha! I like it!)

Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

(Funny!)

Book lovers will understand me,
and they will know too that part of the pleasure
of a library lies in its very existence.
~ Jan Morris ~

(There's just something about the books, themselves...)

I would be most content if my children grew up to be
the kind of people who think decorating
consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. (1993)
~ Anna Quindlen ~

(I am not her child, but I do think that to some extent. ;))

The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go.
~ Dr. Seuss ~

Read the best books first,
or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

(Very good! We won't be here forever... why waste time on silly books? Get to the good ones!)

One half who graduate from college never read another book.
~ Herbert True ~

(See!!! College is evil after all. Just kidding. :))

Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.
~John Witherspoon~

(Good advice!)

Old books that have ceased to be of service
should no more be abandoned than should old friends
who have ceased to give pleasure.
~ Sir Peregrine Worsthorne ~


(I found these quotes here.)