Quote Book May 2, 2006

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. ~ Helen Keller

There is no art or trickery in a true woman. She will not flatter, she will not stoop to humor pet vices, but, fighting and conquering them, she will give her whole loving heart to him she has thus blessed. ~ From Aunt Jane’s Hero, by E. Prentiss

“The bolt of Tash falls from above!” “Does it ever get caught on a hook halfway?” ~ dialogue between Prince Rabadash and Prince Corin in The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis

“Return with your shield or on it!” ~ battle cry of the women of Sparta

Real friends are those who, when you’ve made a fool of yourself, don’t feel you’ve done a permanent job. ~ God’s Little Instuction Book, based on 1 Corinthians 13:7-8  

“There are no safe paths in this part of the world.” ~ Gandalf, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

“Daughter, in the tears of women lies the strength of men.” ~ Valerius, in Rosemary McMillen’s The Anointed

He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. ~ Jim Elliot

Love makes the world go round, but laughter keeps you from getting dizzy. ~ unknown

Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my acquaintance I never knew a man to be drowned who was worth saving. ~ James A. Garfield

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear. ~ Mark Twain  

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve, and that is enough to both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.” ~ Aslan, in C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian   

Hand your dream over to God, then leave it in His keeping. ~ Catherine Marshall  

Perhaps, after all, love did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps…perhaps… love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath. ~ from Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery

Lost moments, like lost opportunities, are sunken pearls. ~ William Thayer

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. ~ William Ross Wallace

“Tell me…do you not feel a spirit stirring within you that longs to know, to do, and to dare, to hold converse with the great world of thought, and hold before you some high and noble object to which the vigor of your mind and the strength of your arm may be given? Do you not have longings like these, which you breathe to no one, and which you feel must be heeded, or you will pass through life unsatisfied and regretful? I am sure you have them, and they will forever cling round your heart till you obey their mandate. They are the voices of that nature which God has given you, and which, when obeyed, will bless you and your fellow men.” ~ James A. Garfield, in a letter to a friend

“I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable unless you truly esteemed your husband – unless you looked up to him as a superior.” ~ Mr. Bennet to Lizzy, in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

“Oh, why can’t boys be just sensible!” ~ Anne of the Island

“I do know my own mind. The trouble is, my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again.” ~ Anne of the Island

It is not possible to be “incidentally a Christian”. The fact of Christianity must be overwhelmingly first or nothing. This suggests a reason for the disliked of Christians by nominal or non-Christians: their lives contain no overwhelming firsts but many balances. ~ Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy

How strange that we cannot love time. It spoils our loveliest moments. Nothing quite comes up to expectations because of it. We alone: animals, so far as we can see, are unaware of time, untroubled. Time is their natural environment. Why do we sense that it is not ours? C. S. Lewis…asked how it was that I, as a product of a materialistic universe, was not at home there. “Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or would not always be, purely aquatic creatures?” Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggest that we were created for eternity. Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed at it – how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. Where, we cry, has the time gone? We aren’t adapted to it, not at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home. ~ Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy

 Someone asked me to name the time our friendship stopped and love began. Oh, my darling, that’s the secret. Our friendship never stopped. ~ Lois Wyse

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. ~ George Washington

“Women see things in a man that men aren’t able to see themselves. They know what to look for. It’s more than just facial characteristics themselves. It’s the way a man carries himself, how he behaves, the way he treats people, the way he speaks, whether his eyes have a fire of purpose in them or are vacant, how he walks–and especially how he treats women. Everything mingles together. A woman responds to the whole man, not merely his face. When I say that you are handsome, it’s everything about the man you are. And now, with all that’s happened to you since, all you’ve become, how can I not think it all the more?”  ~Sabina in A Rose Remembered by Michael Phillips

I am tired, Beloved,
of chafing my heart against
the want of you;
of squeezing it into little inkdrops,
And posting it.
~Amy Lowell, “The Letter”

Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.  ~Lamartine

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.  ~Robert Southey

Days of absence, sad and dreary,
Clothed in sorrow’s dark array, -
Days of absence, I am weary;
She I love is far away.
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

To die and part is a less evil; but to part and live, there, there is the torment.  ~George Lansdowne

Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action.  ~Oswald Chambers

I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun, and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.  ~Eowyn

Dance like no one’s watching
Love like you’ve never been hurt
Sing like no one can hear
Live like there’s no tomorrow.

43 is valuable. 49 is old. 50 is ancient.  ~ my li’l bro

I don’t pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.

Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep…wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you’re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have you….the one who turns to his friends and says, “That’s her.”

One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.  ~ James Earl Jones

Every man is afraid of something. That’s how you know he’s in love with you; when he is afraid of losing you.

You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.

Love is one of the hardest words to say and one of the easiest to hear.

The one who loves you will make you weep.  ~ Argentine proverb

It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return, but what is the most painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let the person know how you feel.

There is no way that writers can be tamed and rendered civilized or even cured. The only solution known to science is to provide the patient with an isolation room, where he can endure the acute stages in private and where food can be poked in to him with a stick. ~Robert A. Heinlein

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. ~ George Washington

Someone asked me to name the time our friendship stopped and love began. Oh, my darling, that’s the secret. Our friendship never stopped. ~ Lois Wyse

Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone;
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Posterity: You will never know how much it cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. ~John Quincy Adams

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.  ~~Douglas Adams

I like deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they rush by. ~Douglas Adams

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears. ~ John Vance Cheney

I can’t help but fly up on the wings of anticipation. It almost pays for the thud. ~Anne Shirley, Anne of Avonlea

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Usually a period when life is most complicated and difficult and painful will turn out to be beautifully intricate and a perfect pattern to look back on.

If you can call her Miss, she’s still a girl. Until she starts getting wrinkles. Then she’s a lady. ~Tobie

It is through the parting of two that eternal love is truly discovered. For their love stays strong and holds till the end.

If you ever had your heart broken or hurt, and you forgave that person and still was able to love them like before, that’s true love!

It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them. ~Alfred Adler

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

Hands are for holding. LIPS are for kissing. ~Lyn, commenting on the custom of kissing a lady’s hand

Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either. ~Golda Meir

Tearless grief bleeds inwardly. ~Christian Nevell Bovee 

To be a cult figure in one’s own lifetime is most unpleasant. ~ Tolkien

Live well, laugh often, love much. 

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.

~Harper Lee

“Writers are vacuum cleaners who suck up other people’s lives and weave them into stories like a sparrow builds a nest from scraps.” ~Garrison Heillor