Mary Ann Shaffer Quotes & Sayings

I love seeing the bookshops and meeting the booksellers
booksellers really are a special breed. No one in their right mind would take up clerking in a bookstore for the salary, and no one in his right mind would want to own one
the margin of profit is too small. So, it has to be a love of readers and reading that makes them do it
along with first dibs on the new books. — Mary Ann Shaffer

His writings have made me his friend. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I am no proof against compliments, especially compliments about my writing. I'll be delighted to dine with you. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Women like poetry. A soft word in their ears and they melt - a grease spot on the grass. — Mary Ann Shaffer

My friend Mrs. Maugery bought a pamphlet that once belonged to you, too. It is called 'Was There a Burning Bush? A Defense of Moses and the Ten Commandments'. She liked your margin note, "Word of God or crowd control???" Did you ever decide which? — Mary Ann Shaffer

In a good mood I call my hair Chestnut with Gold Glints. In a bad mood, I call it mousy brown — Mary Ann Shaffer

I never met a man half so true as a dog. — Mary Ann Shaffer

It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they're after
they only want to look around and hope to see a book that will strike their fancy. And then, being bright enough not to trust the publisher's blurb, they will ask the book clerk the three questions: (1) What is it about? (2) Have you read it? (3) Was it any good? — Mary Ann Shaffer

He's always had more than his fair share of what we call cheek and what Americans call can-do spirit. — Mary Ann Shaffer

All his flowers have been awaiting me on my arrival. I don't know whether to feel flattered or hunted. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Do you arrange your books alphabetically? (I hope not.) — Mary Ann Shaffer

i have siezed the day, and the night too. -Juliet- — Mary Ann Shaffer

I've read fast - too impatient not to. But I'll go back and start over again - reading more slowly this time, so I can take everything in. — Mary Ann Shaffer

That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment. — Mary Ann Shaffer

When I got up this morning the sea was full of sun pennies - and now it all seems to be covered in lemon scrim. Writers ought to live far inland or next to the city dump, if they are ever to get any work one. Or perhaps they need to be stronger-minded than I am. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Night-time train travel is wonderful again! No standing in the corridors for hours, no being shunted off for a troop train to pass, and above all, no black-out curtains. All the windows we passed were lighted, and I could snoop once more. I missed it so terribly during the war. I felt as if we had all turned into moles scuttling along in our separate tunnels. I don't consider myself a real peeper-they go in for bedrooms, but it's families in sitting rooms or kitchens that thrill me. I can imagine their entire lives from a glimpse of bookshelves, or desks, or lit candles, or bright sofa cushions. — Mary Ann Shaffer

My worries travel around in my head on their well worn path — Mary Ann Shaffer

Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet ... it's a tuba among the flutes. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Moses: God or crowd control?!? — Mary Ann Shaffer

Sorrow has rushed over the world like the waters of the Deluge, and it will take time to recede. But already, there are small islands of - hope? Happiness? Something like them, at any rate. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I myself have never had one, but now I can picture one. I didn't like Wuthering Heights at first, but the minute that specter, Cathy, scrabbled her bony fingers on the window glass - I was grasped by the throat and not let go. With that Emily I could hear Heathcliff's pitiful cries upon the moors. — Mary Ann Shaffer

It was so kind of you to write to me about your experiences during the Occupation. At the war's end, I, too, promised myself that I had done with talking about it. I had talked and lived war for six years, and I was longing to pay attention to something - anything - else. But that is like wishing I were someone else. The war is now the story of our lives, and there's no subtracting it. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Friends, show me a man who hates himself, and I'll show you a man who hates his neighbors more! He'd have to
you'd not grant anyone else something you can't have for yourself
no love, no kindness, no respect! — Mary Ann Shaffer

I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with. — Mary Ann Shaffer

What on earth did you say to Isola? She stopped in on her way to pick up Pride and Prejudice and to berate me for never telling her about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Why hadn't she known there were better love stories around? Stories not riddled with ill-adjusted men, anguish, death and graveyards! — Mary Ann Shaffer

I think you learn more if you're laughing at the same time. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Did any of you ever think that along about thet ime the notion of a soul gave out, Freud popped up with the ego to take its place? — Mary Ann Shaffer

I swear, Sophie, I think there's something wrong with me. Every man I meet is intolerable. Perhaps I should set my sights lower[ ... ] — Mary Ann Shaffer

He had no imagination either-fatal for one engaged in child-rearing — Mary Ann Shaffer

Now, about Markham V. Reynolds (Junior). Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet. Am I in love with him? What kind of a question is that? It's a tuba among the flutes, and I expect better of you. The first rule of snooping is to come at it sideways - when you began writing me dizzy letters about Alexander, I didn't ask if you were in love with him, I asked what his favorite animal was. And your answer told me everything I needed to know about him - how many men would admit that they loved ducks? (This brings up an important point: I don't know what Mark's favorite animal is. I doubt it's a duck.) — Mary Ann Shaffer

He's got that way of believing his opinion is the truth, but he's not disagreeable about it. He's too sure he's right to bother being disagreeable. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I wish I'd known those words on the day I watched those German troops land, plane-load after plane-load of them - and come off ships down in the harbor! All I could think of was damn them, damn them, over and over. If I could have thought the words "the bright day is done and we are for the dark," I'd have been consoled somehow and ready to go out and contend with circumstance - instead of my heart sinking to my shoes. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I did not throw 'The Shepherd Boy Sings in the Valley of Humiliation' at the audience. I threw it at the elocution mistress. I meant to cast it at her feet, but I missed. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Miss X has always been a ditherer
she was a ten month baby and has not improved in any material way since then. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I have gone to [this bookshop] for years, always finding the one book I wanted - and then three more I hadn't known I wanted. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Think of it! We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I did not want to spend my time reading about people who never were, doing things they never did. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I believe I am becoming pathetic. I'll go further, I believe that I am in love with a flower-growing, wood-carving quarryman/carpenter/pig farmer. In fact, I know I am. Perhaps tomorrow I will become entirely miserable at the thought that he doesn't love me back - may, even, care for Remy- but at this precise moment I am succumbing to euphoria. My head and stomach feel quite odd. — Mary Ann Shaffer

We read books, talked books, argued over books and became dearer and dearer to one another. — Mary Ann Shaffer

It was not a windy day, my hair always looks like that. — Mary Ann Shaffer

It's a real lightning bolt, this Science of Phrenology. I've found out more in the last three days than I knew in my whole life before. Mrs. Guilbert has always been a nasty one, but now I know that she can't help it - she's got a big pit in her Benevolence spot. She fell in the quarry when she was a girl, and my guess is she cracked her Benevolence and was never the same since. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Reading keeps you from going ga-ga. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Have you noticed there are some people
Americans especially
who seem untouched by the war, or at least, unmangled by it? I don't mean to imply that Mark was a shirker
he was in their Air Corps
but he's simply not sunk under it. And when I'm with him, I feel untouched by the war, too. It's an illusion, I know it is, and truthfully, I'd be ashamed of myself if the war hadn't touched me. But it's forgivable to enjoy myself a little
isn't it? — Mary Ann Shaffer

I tried to protest, but Sam turned his back — Mary Ann Shaffer

Those times, I tried to think of something happy, something I'd liked - but not something I loved, for that made it worse. — Mary Ann Shaffer

You can purchase my silence with torrid details, you know. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Never met a man half so true as a dog. Treat a dog right and he'll treat you right - he'll keep you company, be your friend, never ask you no questions. Cats is different, but I never held that against them. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I thought I was in love (that's the pathetic part - my idea of being in love). — Mary Ann Shaffer

Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Oh bless Speranza, for giving her son such a preposterous name as Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I never met a man half so true as a dog. Treat a dog right, and he'll treat you right. He'll keep you company, be your friend, and never ask you no questions. Cats is different, but I never held that against 'em. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone new, that person's name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson friend, calls it Grace. He thinks that if one cares deeply about someone or something new one throws a kind of energy out into the world, and "fruitfulness" is drawn in. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Grandpa, that's something I never am." I asked him, "What's that?" And he said, "Lonesome in my spirits." Eli to Eben — Mary Ann Shaffer

He is so shy, Juliet. He always has been-I don't think anybody's ever been in love with him, or him with anybody before, so he'd not know the right thing to do about it. It'd be just like him to hide away mementos and never say a word. I despair for him, I do. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Naturally curly hair is a curse, and don't ever let anyone tell you different. — Mary Ann Shaffer

The crematorium could not burn the bodies fast enough - so after we dug long trenches, we pulled and dragged the bodies to the edges and threw them in. You'll not believe it, but the SS forced the prisoners' band to play music as we lugged the corpses - and for that, I hope they burn in hell with polkas blaring. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Yesterday, Amelia and Kit came over for supper, and we took a blanket down to the beach afterward to watch the moon rise. Kit loves to do that, but she always falls asleep before it is fully rise, and I carry her home to Amelia's house. She is certain she'll be able to stay awake all night as soon as she's five. — Mary Ann Shaffer

One year as his wife, and id have become one of those abject, quaking women who look at their husbands when someone asks them a question. I've always despised that type, but I see how it happens now — Mary Ann Shaffer

I am to cover the philosophical side of the debate and so far my only thought is that reading keeps you from going gaga. — Mary Ann Shaffer

My worries travel about my head on their well-worn path, and it is a relief to put them on paper. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Boredom is a powerful reason, and the prospect of fun is a powerful draw - especially when you are young. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Redd up the ship! — Mary Ann Shaffer

The German officers said any soldier caught stealing food from our gardens would be shot. One poor soldier was caught stealing a potato. He was chased by his own people and climbed up a tree to hide. But they found him and shot him down out of the tree. Still, that did not stop them from stealing food. I am not pointing a finger at those practices, because some of us were doing the same. I figure hunger makes you desperate when you wake to it every morning. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Would you like to hear of my first sight of the Germans? I'll use adjectives to make it more lively. I usually don't. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I sometimes think I prefer suitors in books rather than right in front of me. How awful, backward, cowardly, and mentally warped that will be if it turns out to be true. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I was able to un-stick my tongue from the roof of my mouth after the first two minutes and began to have quite a good time. — Mary Ann Shaffer

What a blight that woman is. Do you happen to know why? I lean toward a malignant fairy at her christening. — Mary Ann Shaffer

All my life I thought that the story was over when the hero and heroine were safely engaged
after all, what's good enough for Jane Austen ought to be good enough for anyone. But it's a lie. The story is about to begin, and every day will be a new piece of the plot. — Mary Ann Shaffer

On the page, I'm perfectly charming, but that's just a trick I learned. It has nothing to do with me. — Mary Ann Shaffer

There was Isola in a mad hat and a purple shawl pinned with a glittering brooch. She was smiling fixedly in the wrong direction and I loved her instantly. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Does it even give thee pause, that men used to have a soul
not by hearsay alone, or as a figure of speech; but as a truth
that they knew, and acted upon! Verily it was another world
then ... but yet it is a pity we have lost the tidings of our
souls ... we shall have to go in search of them again, or worse
in all ways shall befall us.
Thomas Carlyle — Mary Ann Shaffer

He didn't say much at our first meeting - nor at any of our meetings since, come to think of it - but left him into a room, and everyone in it seems to breathe a sigh of relief. I have never in my life had that effect on anyone; I can't imagine why not. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Now that I think about it, maybe he is a werewolf. I can picture him lunging over the moors in hot pursuit of his prey, and I'm certain that he wouldn't think twice about eating an innocent bystander. I'll watch him closely at the next full moon. He's asked me to go dancing tomorrow
perhaps I should wear a high collar. Oh, that's vampires, isn't it? I think I am a little giddy. (After meeting Mr. Markham V. Reynolds, Jr.) — Mary Ann Shaffer

As to that Sidney, he sounds a very fine man - but bossy. It's a failing common in men. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Juliet, none of your margin notes! Sophie, dear, don't let her drink coffee while she reads. And off we'd go with new books to read. — Mary Ann Shaffer

This profusion of questions, exclamations, and tales is the new version of the Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I suppose I do have a suitor, but I'm not really used to him yet. He's terribly charming and he plies me with delicious meals, but I sometimes think I prefer suitors in books rather than right in front of me. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Will Thisbee gave me The Beginner's Cook-Book for Girl Guides. It was just the thing; the writer assumes you know nothing about cookery and writes useful hints - When adding eggs, break the shells first. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Is better to know the truth that live in uncertainty. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done, to have advanced true friends? It isn't. I hope, wherever she is, she has that in her mind. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I, too, have felt that the war goes on and on. When my son, Ian, died at El Alamein
side by side with ... visitors offering their condolences, thinking to comfort me, said, "Life goes on." What nonsense, I thought, of course it doesn't. It's death that goes on; Ian is dead now and will be dead tomorrow and nexe year and forever. There's no end to that. But perhaps there will be an end to the sorrow of it. — Mary Ann Shaffer

I miss the feeling that we understood one another, but I begin to think that was only my delusion all along. — Mary Ann Shaffer

If there is Predestination, then God is the devil. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Not even the Germans could ruin the sea. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Treat a dog right and he'll treat you right ... Cats is different, but I never held it against them. — Mary Ann Shaffer

They came here on Sunday, 30th June, 1940, after bombing us two days before. They said they hadn't meant to bomb us; they mistook our tomato lorries on the pier for army trucks. How they came to think that strains the mind. They bombed us, killing some thirty men, women, and children - one among them was my cousin's boy. He had sheltered underneath his lorry when he first saw the planes dropping bombs, and it exploded and caught fire. They killed men in their lifeboats at sea. They strafed the Red Cross ambulances carrying our wounded. When no one shot back at them, they saw the British had left us undefended. They just flew in peaceably two days later and occupied us for five years. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Do you suppose the St. Swithin's furnace-man was my one true love? Since I never spoke to him, it seems unlikely, but at least it was a passion unscathed by disappointment. — Mary Ann Shaffer

But the truth is that I'm gloomy - gloomier than I ever was during the war. Everything is so broken, Sophie: the roads, the buildings, the people. Especially the people. — Mary Ann Shaffer

She is one of those ladies who is more beautiful at sixty than she could possibly have been at twenty. (how I hope someone says that about me someday)! — Mary Ann Shaffer

Then Susan suggested a new dress. I reminded her that the Queen was very happy wearing her 1939 wardrobe, so why shouldn't I be? She said the Queen doesn't need to impress strangers - but I do. I felt like a traitor to crown and country; now decent woman has new clothes - but I forgot that the moment I saw myself in the mirror. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Later, I came to see that Mr. Dickens and Mr. Wordsworth were thinking of men like me when they wrote their words. But most of all, I believe that Mr. Shakespeare was. Mind you, I cannot always make sense of what he says, but it will come. — Mary Ann Shaffer

My neighbour Evangeline Smythe is going to have twins in June. She is none too happy about it, so I am going to ask her to give one of them to me — Mary Ann Shaffer

She was showing me her treasures, Sophie
her eyes did not leave my face once. We were both so solemn, and I, for once, didn't start crying; I just held out my arms. She climbed right into them and under the covers with me
and went sound asleep. — Mary Ann Shaffer

All I could do was scream, "How dare you! What have you DONE?! Put my books back! — Mary Ann Shaffer

I should pity you, did I not know, that the Mind will make friends of any thing. A Mind that can make friends of any thing - I thought of that often during the war. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Isola doesn't approve of small talk and believes in breaking the ice by stomping on it. — Mary Ann Shaffer

Clovis Fossey has asked if you would send the society a copy of your prizewinning essay on chickens ... I'd like to read it too, chickens being the reason I fell off a henhouse roof. They'd chased me there. How they all came at me with their razor lips and back to back eyeballs. People don't know how chickens can turn on you, but they can, just like mad dogs. I didn't keep hens until the war came, but then I had to, but I am never easy in their company. — Mary Ann Shaffer

After all, what's good enough for Austen ought to be good enough for anyone. — Mary Ann Shaffer