"The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to."
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Quote collection
Dodie Smith quotes (page 1 of 5)
96 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring."
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"Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression."
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"He stood staring into the wood for a minute, then said: "What is it about the English countryside — why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?" He sounded faintly sad. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening — I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die. Then he said I was probably too young to understand him; but I understood perfectly."
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"Time takes the ugliness and horror out of death and turns it into beauty."
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"It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London - that it has always been , in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically - by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town."
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"What is it about the English countryside — why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?"
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"When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it - or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don't suppose many people try to do it."
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"Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing."
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"Ham with mustard is a meal of glory"
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"It's a beautiful sight to see good dancers doing simple steps. It's a painful sight to see beginners doing complicated patterns."
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"But some characters in books are really real--Jane Austen's are; and I know those five Bennets at the opening of Pride and Prejudice, simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park, are not giving one thought to the real facts of marriage."
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"I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather God has to offer."
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"Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them."
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"I shouldn't think even millionaires could eat anything nicer than new bread and real butter and honey for tea."
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"Stew's so comforting on a rainy day."
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"And no bathroom on earth will make up for marrying a bearded man you hate."
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"I believe it is customary to get one's washing over first in baths and bask afterwards; personally, I bask first. I have discovered that the first few minutes are the best and not to be wasted-- my brain always seethes with ideas and life suddenly looks much better than did."
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"extreme happiness invites religion almost as much as extreme misery."
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"Though he had very little Latin beyond "Cave canem," he had, as a young dog, devoured Shakespeare (in a tasty leather binding)."
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