Hattifnatt Quotes & Sayings

It occurred to me, not for the first time, that if Britain is ever to sort itself out, it is going to require a lot of euthanasia. — Bill Bryson

of tall poplars. At the rear things were on even a more spacious scale than at the front. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches. Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon. And over this great demesne Buck ruled. Here — Jack London

To hold a human soul in the palm of your hand like a pebble. To feel somebody slip away, yet by your actions to bring her back! Not even a king had such power. — Noah Gordon

Don't panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends' embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce ... Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end. Leaving the desk for a while can help. Talking the problem through can help me recall what I was trying to achieve before I got stuck. Going for a long walk almost always gets me thinking about my manuscript in a slightly new way. And if all else fails, there's prayer. St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers, has often helped me out in a crisis. If you want to spread your net more widely, you could try appealing to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, too. — Sarah Waters

I don't believe in fate," she said at last. "But I do believe in ... loopholes. I think a lot of what keeps the world going is the result of accidents - happy or otherwise - and taking advantage of these. — Robin McKinley

In terms of the way the industry operates, the studio system was such its own thing. It's so different now that it's a globalized world. — Karina Longworth

The shelf life of the average trade book is somewhere between milk and yogurt. — Calvin Trillin

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself. — Boyd Rice

Price is a crazy and incalculable thing, while Value is an intrinsic and indestructible thing. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

I think ethical ambivalence is a kind of innoculation, a way of excusing yourself in advance for something you actually want to do. No offense. — Jennifer Egan

Had I a thousand daughters, by Heaven! I'd as soon have them taught the black art as their alphabet! — Richard Brinsley Sheridan

I've never been a social person. — Annie Lennox

She wore a wreath of roses,
The night that first we met. — Thomas Haynes Bayly

Virgo: Your teddy bear will reveal that he is pregnant and will require counseling. — Sue Limb