Nellie Quotes & Sayings

Never having failed, I could not picture what failure meant. — Nellie Bly

If a ballplayer is satisfied, he's going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve. — Nellie Fox

He watched in awe as she stacked up an enormous armload of music. "There," she finished, slapping Frank Zappa's Greatest Hits on top of the pile. "That should do for a start."
"You are a music lover," said the wide-eyed cashier.
"No, I'm a kleptomaniac." And she dashed out the door.
He was so utterly shocked that it took him a moment to run after her.
With a meaningful nod in the direction of the astounded Cahills, she barreled down the cobblestone street with her load.
"Fermati!" shouted the cashier, scrambling in breathless pursuit.
Nellie let a few CDs drop and watched with satisfaction over her shoulder as the clerk stopped to pick them up. The trick would be to keep the chase going just long enough for Amy and Dan to search Disco Volante.
Yikes, she reflected suddenly, I'm starting to think like a Cahill ...
And if she was nuts enough to hang around this family, it was only going to get worse. — Gordon Korman

(Al) Lopez is a great believer in speed and hustle, in the go-go style of baseball. No other manager is so determined a foe of stodgy baseball, lack of hustle and slipshod practices and so powerful an advocate of the unexpected. — Nellie Fox

I guess you deal with what you get. — Nellie McKay

You won't be famous until people start saying the worst things they can about you. Don't worry! It's a good sign! — Nellie Melba

If you look through the century, certain things have gotten better and certain things have gotten worse. I wouldn't say overall that things have gotten better. I think you could say things have gotten worse, but I don't think you could say that things have gotten better. Overall. You can't say that. — Nellie McKay

For a hundred and fifty years, in the pasture of dead horses,
roots of pine trees pushed through the pale curves of your ribs,
yellow blossoms flourished above you in autumn, and in winter
frost heaved your bones in the ground
old toilers, soil makers:
O Roger, Mackerel, Riley, Ned, Nellie, Chester, Lady Ghost. — Donald Hall

Even that was all consumed after two days, and the patients had to try to choke down fresh fish, just boiled in water, without salt, pepper or butter; mutton, beef, and potatoes without the faintest seasoning. — Nellie Bly

By nice women ... you probably mean selfish women who have no more thought for the underprivileged, overworked women than a pussycat in a sunny window for the starving kitten in the street. Now in that sense I am not a nice woman, for I do care. — Nellie L. McClung

People in the world can never imagine the length of days to those in asylums. They seemed never ending, and we welcomed any event that might give us something to think about as well as talk of. — Nellie Bly

The fact that Nellie wasn't any one person but rather a composite of three of the real Laura's antagonists' worst traits makes her even more terrifying, some kind of blond Frankenstein assembled from assorted bitch parts. — Wendy McClure

Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell's Island? I said I could and I would. And I did. — Nellie Bly

Always sing below your potential. — Nellie Melba

In regard to tenacity of life, no old yellow cat has anything on a prejudice. You may kill it with your own hands, bury it deep, and sit on the grave, and behold! the next day it will walk in at the back door, purring. — Nellie L. McClung

What is the top requirement for a second baseman? A fine shortstop. I am fortunate in having the greatest shortstop in baseball, Luis Aparicio. — Nellie Fox

If we went back to the basics of vegetables, legumes, grains - the things closer to the Earth - it's a lot better for the Earth and for other people. We can feed more people, we can feed the starving people. — Nellie McKay

A free American girl can accommodate herself to circumstances without the aid of a man. -Nellie Bly — Matthew Goodman

(Jim) Landis is such a good player because he plays every day as if he expects to be sent to the minors next week. — Nellie Fox

Love is such a fleeting emotion. It's such a small part of the things you do in your life. — Nellie McKay

Music is not written in red, white and blue. It is written in the heart's blood of the composer. — Nellie Melba

When you have the first show set in India on American television, there's gonna be a Nervous Nellie kind of vibe. — Parvesh Cheena

Never regret trusting someone. It proves you have a heart. But if he turns out to be a lying worm ... I'm not going to waste my time crying. Because I am way too fabulous for that. — Jude Watson

I'd love to give my music to someone who really likes to wow the crowd. I feel like half the time I just want to hide in the dressing room! — Nellie McKay

I like to know what I'm celebrating before I put on a party hat. — Margaret Peterson Haddix

Women are going to form a chain, a greater sisterhood than the world has ever known. — Nellie L. McClung

Will gritted his teeth as Will Junior and Nellie continued their debate. He loved his son, but he found him
and many members of hisgeneration
ruthless in their pursuit of money and standing and harsh toward the less fortunate. He had reminded him on many occasions that both the McClanes and their mother's family
the Van der leydens
had at one time been immigrants. As had members of all the city's wealthy families. But Will's lectures made no difference to his son. He was an American. And those getting off the boat at Castle Garden were not. Italian, Irish, Chinese, Polish
nationality made no difference. They were lazy, stupid, and dirty. Their numbers spelled ruin for the country. p. 264 — Jennifer Donnelly

Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done and let them howl. — Nellie L. McClung

Every season of life has its compensations ... — Nellie L. McClung

But I have five children of my own here, and I love them all dearly. — Nellie C. Lind

Flight 2039 to Boston is now boarding at gate 14A," a voice announced over the PA system.
Nellie sighed. "I love Irish accents." She paused. "And Australian accents. And English accents." A dreamy look came over her face. "Theo had an awesome accent."
Dan snorted. "Yeah, there was just that one tiny problem. He turned out to be a two-timing, backstabbing thief. — Rick Riordan

only she could fix her problems with a needle and thread she'd be set. Nellie looked up from the socks she was darning toward the knocking on the front door. Who could — Cynthia Woolf

There are boys who will make you cry, and then there are boys who are worth spending your fabulous energy on. — Clifford Riley

They were being driven to a prison, through no fault of their own, in all probability for life. In comparison, how much easier it would be to walk to the gallows than to this tomb of living horrors! — Nellie Bly

No one had to tell me I was never going to be a home run hitter. I was hitting the same ball as the rest of the players, but when the big guys cracked one, it went out of the park. Mine went out of the infield. — Nellie Fox

When the guy turned around, Amy began stuttering. Silently. It was a feat only Amy could manage, and only Dan could notice. And it only happened in front of boys who looked like this one. He had brown hair and caramel-colored eyes, like Dan's friend Nick Santos, who made all the sixth-grade girls turn into blithering idiots when he looked their way
in fact, would even say Watch, lean make them turn into blithering idiots, and then he'd do it. Only older. "He. Is. Hot," Nellie said under her breath. "You too?" Dan hissed. — Peter Lerangis

A wound in a young heart is like a wound in a young tree. It does not grow out. It grows in. — Nellie L. McClung

We won (the pennant) because we've got a superior ball club. Not many stars perhaps, but the kind of team that always plays well together. — Nellie Fox

Why are pencils equipped with erasers if not to correct mistakes? — Nellie L. McClung

All the asylum clothing is made by the patients, but sewing does not employ one's mind. After several months' confinement the thoughts of the busy world grow faint, and all the poor prisoners can do is to sit and ponder over their hopeless fate. — Nellie Bly

If you run out on Nellie, what will you say when you meet God?"
George swore, laughed, shook his head. "I'll say 'Just send me on to hell. That's where all my friends are, anyway. — Stephanie Grace Whitson

Men alone are not capable of making laws for men and women. — Nellie L. McClung

Rock star do not jump!" The launch was cutting sharply, its skipper calling out a phrase that bore no relationship to the English language as Amy knew it. "Rock star in a hurry!" Nellie replied, one foot on the boat's gunwale. — Peter Lerangis

Chivalry is a poor substitute for justice, if one cannot have both. Chivalry is something like the icing on the cake, sweet but not nourishing. — Nellie L. McClung

I hardly expected the grand jury to sustain me, after they saw everything different from what it had been while I was there. Yet they did, and their report to the court advises all the changes made that I had proposed. — Nellie Bly

When my mother heard about this, she was furious, and she crossed Nellie off her prayer list. My dad put her on his instead, so she didn't miss out. — Jeanette Winterson

Nellie was a good girl, and I think had a sort of quiet respect for old Fagg's unobtrusiveness. But her fancy was already taken captive by Rattler's superficial qualities, which were obvious and pleasing. I don't think Nellie was any worse than you or I. We are more apt to take acquaintances at their apparent value than their intrinsic worth. It's less trouble, and, except when we want to trust them, quite as convenient. — Bret Harte

The greatest insult came at the marriage ceremony when the minister asked 'who giveth this woman,' and some brother, or father or other man, unblushingly said he did, as though it were entirely a commercial transaction between men. — Nellie L. McClung

On the wagon sped, and I, as well as my comrades, gave a despairing farewell glance at freedom as we came in sight of the long stone buildings. — Nellie Bly

That's it. Gently now," Reagan said to Nellie. "We'll move onto the hard stuff tomorrow."
"This ... isn't ... the hard stuff?" Nellie spit out through gritted teeth.
Reagan grinned. "You really hate me right now, don't you?"
"Immeasurably."
"Good. Give me ten. — Jude Watson

The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly calm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come to and wait for the turn of the tide. — Joseph Conrad

That's the most sexist idea I've ever heard," Nellie said harshly. "I'm female, so I have to be clueless. He's male, so he's got a great sense of direction. — Gordon Korman

With flamenco I was transported into a world where everyone is beautiful, because beauty is in everything, the glorious and the ugly; because flamenco celebrates living, through the cries of pain and the cries of joy, the symmetry of a young face and the character of an old face. — Nellie Bennett

There's a side of me that identifies with Aileen Wuornos. — Nellie McKay

The horse on the treadmill may be very discontented, but he is not disposed to tell his troubles, for he cannot stop to talk. — Nellie L. McClung

Then again, if you opinions on women prevent me from carrying out my work, then I would be more than happy to suggest a place for you to stuff them... You're the bos... but YOU seem to be the brains. It's Abigail Rook, yes? Mind if I call you Abbie? Lovely. - Nellie — William Ritter

It's always so nerve-wracking being up there on stage. It's even harder playing in your hometown - and I have a couple of home towns - but, you're playing for all the people you knew in high school, so it causes no small degree of panic in my mind. — Nellie McKay

The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out. — Nellie Bly

Thought without expression is dynamic and gathers volume by repression. Evolution when blocked and suppressed becomes revolution. — Nellie L. McClung

The real question for me is why Lieutenant Cable and Nellie didn't just get together. Because they would have been a perfect match. I guess the idea is that opposites attract, but I don't think that's what it's like in real life. I think in real life you'd want someone who was as close to you as possible. Someone who could understand exactly the way you thought. — Carol Rifka Brunt

I had never been near insane persons before in my life, and had not the faintest idea of what their actions were like. — Nellie Bly

There are two things I like stiff and one of them's jelly. — Nellie Melba

I said I could and I would. And I did. — Nellie Bly

You know, I wanted to get married, and so I - but I, you know, I realize no matter what you want, it's kind of a fantasy. — Nellie McKay

You know, if I can survive marching band, I can survive anything. — Nellie McKay

It makes a great difference to a speaker whether he has something to say, or has to say something. — Nellie L. McClung

I used to play in the subway. If everyone tossed in a quarter, at the end of the day it would add up. It shows you aren't invisible. And it's better than being ignored, or kicked in the head, or worse. — Nellie McKay

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself. — Nellie Melba

Never explain, never retract, never apologize. Just get the thing done and let them howl. — Nellie L. McClung

Earlier in life, I put family in front of faith. I've fixed that. But I always tried to keep work fourth on the list. I was proud when [my wife] Nellie told an interviewer, 'I never could tell whether John had a good practice or a bad practice, because he never brought it home' — John Wooden

Always in Alberta there is a fresh wind blowing. — Nellie L. McClung

But unlike the "electric" excitement that had filled the room four years earlier, when Nellie had sparkled with happiness and Taft had "laughed with the joy of a boy," both the president and first lady clearly understood that the divisive convention had rendered Republican chances for election in November almost impossible. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

In 1896 the newspaperwoman Nellie Bly asked Susan B. Anthony if she'd ever been in love. Her answer: "Bless you, Nellie, I've been in love a thousand times! But I never loved any one so much that I thought it would last. In fact, I never felt I could give up my life of freedom to become a man's housekeeper. — Kate Bolick

Humanity has to travel a hard road to wisdom, and it has to travel it with bleeding feet. — Nellie L. McClung

Never in his life had Edward been cradled like a baby. Abilene had not done it. Nor had Nellie. And most certainly, Bull had not. It was a singular sensation to be held so gently and yet so fiercely, to be stared down at with so much love. Edward felt the whole of his china body flood with warmth. (page 128) — Kate DiCamillo

I don't think anyone ever liked to play more than I did. — Nellie Fox

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia - I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me. — Nellie Melba

The au pair was bug-eyed. "What happened back there?"
"It's not our fault!" Dan babbled. "Those guys are crazy! They're like mini-Darth Vaders without the mask!"
"They're Benedictine monks!" Nellie exclaimed. "They're men of peace! Most of them are under vows of silence!"
"Yeah, well, not anymore," Dan told her. "They cursed us out pretty good. I don't know the language, but some things you don't have to translate. — Gordon Korman

In our short walks we passed the kitchen where food was prepared for the nurses and doctors. There we got glimpses of melons and grapes and all kinds of fruits, beautiful white bread and nice meats, and the hungry feeling would be increased tenfold. — Nellie Bly

I think this is the greatest and best country in all the world, with its great sunlit spaces and its long long roads, and best of all the roads that are not made yet, and the stories that no one has told because they are too busy living them. — Nellie L. McClung

'VERY WELL,' I SAID ANGRILY, 'START THE MAN, AND I'LL START THE SAME DAY FOR SOME OTHER NEWSPAPER AND BEAT HIM.' — Nellie Bly

War is a crime committed by men and, therefore, when enough people say it shall not be, it cannot be. — Nellie L. McClung

I have never written a word that did not come from my heart. I never shall. — Nellie Bly

Chivalry is like a line of credit. You can get plenty of it when you do not need it. — Nellie L. McClung

On October 19, 1949, I got a telephone call from the Philadelphia (A's) front office informing me I had been traded to the White Sox for Joe Tipton. I was surprised and hurt. — Nellie Fox

Canada is destined to be one of the great nations of the world and Canadian women must be ready for citizenship. — Nellie L. McClung

The middle years of life come on like thunder. — Nellie L. McClung

ACCEPT PRAISE FOR ITS WORTH - POLITENESS. BE BRUTALLY FRANK WITH YOURSELF. IT'S SAFER. — Nellie Bly

I never know how to get off the phone, so I'm terribly admiring of people who can. — Nellie McKay

What is the point of fainting into a man's arms if you are not conscious to enjoy it? — Marie Silk

You don't get Billie Joe Armstrong's autograph on your forehead without following your instincts. — Gordon Korman

Nellie Cashman, from Midleton, County Cork, made a mint providing "bed, board, and booze" to the gold and silver miners all over the western US and Canada. She was a prodigious entrepreneur, running and owning numerous stores, restaurants, and hotels in various mining settlements. While working the bar of her hotel, canny Nellie was able to buy a number of very lucrative mines by discretely listening to the gossip of drunken prospectors. — Rashers Tierney

I shuddered to think how completely the insane were in the power of their keepers, and how one could weep and plead for release, and all of no avail, if the keepers were so minded. — Nellie Bly

In high school, I was always into Jerry Lee Lewis, and they decided they needed a piano player for the jazz band. I had my little boogie-woogie thing that I did, so I did my little boogie-woogie thing. I had a very high-pitched voice. — Nellie McKay

I pride myself on being able to put up with a lot," Nellie said. "But bagpipers are pretty much my limit. — Larry McMurtry

Nellie grinned. "I always wanted to go to Venice. It's supposed to be the romance capital of the world."
"Sweet," put in Dan. "Too bad your date is an Egyptian Mau on a hunger strike."
The au pair sighed. "Better than an eleven-year-old with a big mouth. — Gordon Korman

Have we not the brains to think? Hands to work? Hearts to feel? And lives to live? — Nellie L. McClung

I think there are nice things about every era. I wish we could just take the nice things. — Nellie McKay

Public radio is the last oasis of free and independent music. For satellite radio channels, you have to subscribe; commercial stations are as corporate as basic cable. — Nellie McKay

Do everything yourself. — Nellie Melba