Catherine Gilbert Murdock Quotes & Sayings

What is a staircase, but a corridor improved by elevation? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The truth that our futures are so often determined not by some grand design or deliberate strategy but by an ordinary run-of-the-mill head cold. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The situation collapsed completely at dinner one September evening. Perhaps it was the full moon that drove me to madness, or the gnawing, relentless emptiness of my heart. Whatever the trigger, the powder had been well packed, and my explosion, though shocking, was not altogether unexpected. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

A princess," (Queen Sophia) would proclaim, "requires a graceful and willowy carriage, not the appetite of a swineherd. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

So what if Brian made me feel like fireworks were going off inside me. He could also make me feel like a big fat clod of heartsick dirt. It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

She says you're not truly human until you've had your heart broken and you've broken someone's heart. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Everyone I looked at, their whole lives, did exactly what they were supposed to do
without even questioning it, without even wondering if they could
do something different. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I saw something I wanted to do and I decided to do it. The feeling of freedom it gave me- I can't even describe it. It was my decision. I chose it. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Every fairy tale, it seems, concludes with the bland phrase "happily ever after." Yet every couple I have ever known would agree that nothing about marriage is forever happy. There are moments of bliss, to be sure, and lengthy spans of satisfied companionship. Yet these come at no small effort, and the girl who reads such fiction dreaming her troubles will end ere she departs the altar is well advised to seek at once a rational women to set her straight. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Trying to make something sound innocent always backfires - I know that just from being a kid — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Why was it that jam always coated me so? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

As for the queen, I had no more interest in her company than in plunging my face into a nest of hornets. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I'd promised myself that I'd really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Hell is paved with good intentions. Heaven is paved with Oreos. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Today exists between yesterday and tomorrow. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Still, I couldn't get over Dad calling those farmers. People might think helping is hard, but really that's the easy part; just look how good it makes people feel. Look how happy all those Red Bend ladies were about chipping in. It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real strength, to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. Mom must really be hurting for Dad to be so brave. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

It kind of struck me how great it would be to go out with a guy that size. And if you, you know, got tired of dating him, you could always use him as a house or something. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning. Such musings, I recognise, are more than a trifle insane, for envisioning what might have been had no more connection to our own true reality than a lunatic has to a lemon. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

But it turns out that even if I don't talk a lot, when it's something that matters I still have a lot to say. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

It is important to eat Oreos the right way. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

So break up with him. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I could not help but wonder, that night and later, why my father would even mention my marrying someone who came from a country that my mother so obviously disliked. I recall wondering that distinctly, while somehow missing the obvious connection that this boy was a prince and that I, the niece of a king, was a princess. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

And that's where our conversation went from there, than God, both of us laughing our butts off at the thought of a hoops game between two teams on intravenous fluids. Which makes absolutely no sense at all; I know that. But that's why it cheered me up, because it was so absolutely stupid. It cheered me up more than I'd ever thought I'd be cheered up again. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

But you know, even worrying about haircuts couldn't depress me. Because every time I started sinking low, I'd just remember about football. All this time I'd thought I wanted to be a trainer, when it turned out I wanted to be a player instead. I saw something I wanted to do and I decided to do it. The feeling of freedom this gave me - I can't even describe it. It was my decision. I chose it. I am not a cow. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

And have your mother put my head on a stake? Do you have any notion what that would do to my handsome good looks? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Reasonableness is the byproduct of a scientific mind. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

With every morsel I consumed, I was informed that princes most love slender young ladies. As I was as interested in a prince's love as in sticking my fish fork into my ear, I reacted to this by cleaning my plate ever more thoroughly. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Love is the hardest thing in the world. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Night soil oozed onto my cloak, and I wondered why all my adventures involved foul odour. Why could I not for once frolic in a meadow of flowers, or escape in a hamper of fresh laundry? No, I must endure night soil and prison cells and unwashed soldiers ... — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Talk Back? That's really what it's called? You're supposed to walk into some church basement and say, 'I'm here to learn how to Talk Back'? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

And it occurred to me that the reason she makes it work, probably, is because she's so comfortable with herself. And you know, that's not such a bad notion, in the whole life-lesson business. Being comfortable with yourself. Because if you're not okay with who you are, why should anyone else be? — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

And if I didn't, I'd spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I'd had the guts to try. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The day of the ball was spent preparing me much as one prepares a goose for Christmas, with the same ultimate effect. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

That is the delusion of which I speak! You wish the joys of true love upon every milkmaid and stable boy in your land, and yet you consign yourself and another to lives of pure misery that you might possess a well-proportioned ballroom. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Lord Frederick had been a stalwart member of the Montagne court since at least the time of my grandfather; this I knew. Even more, he had the marvellous ability to pull peppermint drops from my ears, which used to entertain me for hours. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

According to Montagne legend, the mountain has forever been the abode of giants. Long ago a traveling pair of sorcerers, husband and wife, scaled the cliff into the valley, and the woman cured the giants' chilblains with ointments and the gift of fire. In gratitude, the giants built Chateau de Montagne out of the living rock of Ancienne, and from that castle the couple founded the kingdom of Montagne, using their magic to shield the country and its people from harm. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that's the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

His cell phone rang, one of those extremely annoying songs that cell phone owners are so in love with because for some reason they can't tolerate a plain old-fashioned ring. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

No matter how I prayed, no fairy godmother appeared. No elf or leprechaun or world-weary wizard materialised to provide the secret weapon against my foe. I remained alone in a mouse-infested cell, empty but for a pallet and the nightdress into which I now had to struggle. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

My downfall, inevitably, was triggered by food. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

That which is priceless has no cost. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

If in this narrative I have not yet paid Queen Sophia adequate consideration, particularly given the unrelenting domination the woman would soon claim over every single element of my life, I offer this simple yet honest explanation: for fifteen unbroken years, my mother had toiled to protect me from the woman. It is remarkable, as I reflect upon my childhood, how utterly unaware I was of this situation while it transpired, the truth coming to my notice only in despondent hindsight. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

With time, when I was very old and in my twenties, I might find a man to love, not one forced upon me ... — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I could not help but notice that in this regard the book, inanimate though it was, cared more for my welfare than any human in the castle. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

You can't think about how much you have left to do because that's just one thought, one sad thought, that'll make you bummed out all day long. Instead you've got to think about how much you've already done. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

It was like he was in a contest to see who could do the least work, only he was the only contestant. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Oh. Listen, this is really hard for me ... "
"What is?"
"You know. Being liked." I started to cry. I couldn't help it. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Sometimes,well,all the time,I can't think of what to say because I'm so dumb and stuff,and then maybe I think of it like five days later. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Bend like the sapling you are. With time we shall find your oaken core. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

So it was that my life passed from the joyous realm of heaven to the choking and inescapable tortures of hell. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Everyone's scared. So scared they can't sleep sometimes. Or eat. Or keep their weight on."
"Then why bother playing?" I asked. It was a whisper, this question.
"Because. You love the game. You love the people you play with. You love winning, maybe. You love that one moment when you get it right ... I dunno. Why do you play?"
"Because," I whispered, "it's who I am."
Sounds like a good reason to me. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I hate it when people make fun of me and it turns out they're right. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I ultimately decided to hold my tongue and settle instead for the comfort of ignorance. Not knowing the truth, I retained hope, and that hope I held like a smooth warm stone against my heart. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Better I would have been at pulling parsnips out of my nose than charming any man, even if I so desired it, even if I quadrupled my studies in her unique curriculum. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor - challenging indeed with one shoe - and around the corner. I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the book's assistance, I would have climbed at once to my wizard room for a spell with which to punish him. Death, perhaps, or humiliation. A croaking frog would be nice, particularly a frog that retained Florian's dark eyes. I should keep it in a box and poke it occasionally with a stick; that would be satisfying indeed. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

And I have to tell you, as tough as farming is, the idea of farming when you're losing money year after year ... that's not life even, that's like death. That's eternal damnation. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock

You watch pro ball and those guys spend so much time with their hands on each other's rear ends, you'd think they were feeling for diamonds or something. — Catherine Gilbert Murdock