Mary Ellen Chase Quotes & Sayings

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. — Mary Ellen Chase

To lovers of the long and intricate history of language the disuse and final death of certain words is a matter of regret. Yet every age bears witness to the inevitableness of such loss. — Mary Ellen Chase

Whatever laudable qualities the English may possess in their selection, preparation, and consumption of food, elegance, originality, diversity, and imagination are not among them. — Mary Ellen Chase

Suffering without understanding in this life is a heap worse than suffering when you have at least the grain of an idea what it's all for. — Mary Ellen Chase

Even one's yesterdays could not continue to stir and move in a man's mind unless there were a future for those yesterdays to make. — Mary Ellen Chase

Of all the excellent teachers of college English whom I have known I have never discovered one who knew precisely what he was doing. Therein have lain their power and their charm. — Mary Ellen Chase

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. — Mary Ellen Chase

The greatest danger in any argument is that real issues often clouded by superficial ones, that momentary passions may obscure permanent realities. — Mary Ellen Chase

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

Manual labor to my father was not only good and decent for it's own sake but, as he was given to saying, it straightened out one's thoughts. — Mary Ellen Chase