Polly Quotes & Sayings

Give me break," Polly said. — Matthew Dicks

Help your children to see and notice poverty and differences in privilege that seem inhumane and unfair. Do this in a way that does not increase guilt or shame for what you have as a family, but rather helps them see their responsibility for sharing with others and keeping others in mind. — Polly Young-Eisendrath

Especially with our first child, we tend to take too much responsibility
both credit and blame
for everything. The more we wantto be good parents, the more we tend to see ourselves as making or breaking our children. — Polly Berrien Berends

And what could my father possibly want with another child, when he hardly bothered to talk to the one he already had? — Polly Shulman

If you never fail, that means you never tried to do something impossible. — Polly Whittaker

But the single overwhelming reason why jails are bursting is longer sentences given for more crimes. — Polly Toynbee

Polly tried to conquer the bad feeling; but it worried her, till she remembered something her mother once said to her: When you feel out of sorts, try to make someone else happy, and you will soon be so yourself. — Louisa May Alcott

A child needs both to be hugged and unhugged. The hug lets her know she is valuable. The unhug lets her know that she is viable. If you're always shoving your child away, they will cling to you for love. If you're always holding them closer, they will cling to you for fear. — Polly Berrien Berends

How lovely they were, those long summer nights: the words and the silences, the sunsets and the stars. — Polly Samson

The SoLid DoVes," Polly read. "Yeah, well, these ladies weren't hired for their spelling," said Jackrum, pushing open the flap of the tent of ill repute. Inside — Terry Pratchett

Everything that happens is either a blessing, which is also a lesson, or a lesson which is also a blessing. — Polly Berrien Berends

What it comes down to is this: the grocer, the butcher, the baker, the merchant, the landlord, the druggist, the liquor dealer, the policeman, the doctor, the city father and the politician
these are the people who make money out of prostitution, these are the real reapers of the wages of sin. — Polly Adler

(He was obviously even less impressed by the guinea pig thing than I realised.) — Polly James

A critical faculty is a terrible thing. When I was eleven there were no bad films, just films I didn't want to see, there was no bad food, just Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and there were no bad books - everything I read was great. Then suddenly, I woke up in the morning and all that had changed. How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath? Why on EARTH would my English teacher think that 'The History of Mr Polly' was better than 'Ten Little Indians' by Agatha Christie? And from that moment on, enjoyment has been a much more elusive quality. — Nick Hornby

As soon as my foot is in the light onstage, I am home. It is what I love to do. It is what I have always loved to do. — Polly Bergen

No one really understands a family but the people in it and even they each understand it differently. — Polly Horvath

Suddenly I realize that everyone in the whole world is, at the end of a day, staring at a dusky horizon, owner of a day that no one else will ever know. — Polly Horvath

She is standing just behind you. Just behind your right shoulder."
In the silence of the woods, Polly turned.
"I can't see her," she said.
"I am happy for you," said Wazzer, handing her the empty mug.
"But I didn't see anything," said Polly.
"No," said Wazzer. "But you turned around ... — Terry Pratchett

Oh! Polly thought. Why aren't all girls locked up by law the year they turn fifteen? They do such stupid things! — Diana Wynne Jones

American mythology would have it that divorced or widowed women in their middle years were desperate to remarry. That had not been Polly's experience. Most had made lives they enjoyed and would only compromise for a very shiny white knight with a particularly breathtaking steed. — Nevada Barr

Baltimore is one of the most beautiful towns, really. And trust me, I don't say that about every place. There is just something so quaint, old and beautiful about this place. — Polly Bergen

I always said, 'A blind dog with three legs could get a standing ovation for singing 'I'm Still Here!' — Polly Bergen

The way my luck is at the moment," said Polly, "I probably will get a tiny bit of money back, and as I leave the bank after picking it up, a bolt of lightning will come out of the sky and set it on fire. Then a piano will fall on my head and knock me down a manhole. — Jenny Colgan

Polly had a gift for baking pies, and she poured her heart and soul into every one she made. — Sarah Weeks

Me, Polly Garter, under the washing line, giving the breast in the garden to my bonny new baby. Nothing grows in our garden, only washing. And babies. And where's their fathers live, my love? Over the hills and far away. You're looking up at me now. I know what you're thinking, you poor little milky creature. You're thinking, you're no better than you should be, Polly, and that's good enough for me. Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God? — Dylan Thomas

But I see you're not standing in a bleedin' shadow, Perks, nor have you done anything to change your bleedin' shape, you're silhouetted against the bleedin' light and your sabre's shining like a diamond in a chimney-sweep's bleedin' ear'ole! Explain!"
"It's because of the one C, sarge!" said Polly, still staring straight ahead.
"And that is?"
"Colour, sarge! I'm wearing bleedin' red and white in a bleedin' grey forest, sarge! — Terry Pratchett

All kinds of ordinary people gave their whole hearts to things you wouldn't think you could give your heart to. — Polly Horvath

What does it mean to feel "in control" of your life? What I mean by control is the ability to make a choice. Personal sovereignty means that you choose from what is available in order to be intentional about your life ... When you feel in control of your life, you know yourself to be the author of your own actions and know that you always have choices. — Polly Young-Eisendrath

A flapping tongue puts out the light of wisdom."~Polly Shine — Jonathan Odell

Would you really want to live in world where only the possible is possible? — Polly Shulman

Passion + Persistence + Patience = Success. — Polly Letofsky

I wish we had someone to tell us what all those places are," said Digory. "I don't suppose they're anywhere yet," said Polly. "I mean, there's no one there, and nothing happening. The world only began today." "No, but people will get there," said Digory. "And then they'll have histories, you know." "Well, it's a jolly good thing they haven't now," said Polly. "Because nobody can be made to learn it. Battles and dates and all that rot. — C.S. Lewis

If your children see that you are seeking, they will seek-the finding part is up to God. — Polly Berrien Berends

In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye. — Mark Twain

Is anyone serious about the politics of happiness? David Cameron dipped a toe in the water, using the word lightly, but denying the hard policies it implies. Labour shies away from it, but should take up the challenge. — Polly Toynbee

And if someone does figure it out and starts a rumour, we'll just deal with it," Polly says. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, and all that crap."
"Do you ever dream of the day when your life can no longer be adequately summarized by Kelly Clarkson songs?" I ask.
"All the time," Polly says. — E.K. Johnston

So Tumpty tried hiding upside down, behind a pot plant, under a large cardboard box, with his eyes tightly closed. — Polly Dunbar

Once we begin to appreciate that the apparent destructiveness of the toddler in taking apart a flower or knocking down sand castles is in fact a constructive effort to understand unity, we are able to revise our view of the situation, moving from reprimand and prohibition to the intelligent channeling of his efforts and the fostering of discovery. — Polly Berrien Berends

received his recent letters, Franz said, "That's strange, I've written to you so often." He spoke cryptically, using slang. "I've been on the horn with Papi. He hasn't been able to raise Madi since the Frogs packed it in." "I tried her from Villars," Alex replied. "The maid said they were on the road." She thought of what Polly had suggested about a bolt hole. "Maybe they decided to stay down south for a while." "I would go to find them, but I'm stuck here until the end of next term. — Harriet Segal

Right now he's like the ocean at night- you know it's there, but even though the lights are coming on you can't see it and all you know of it is washing sound somewhere sighing in the back room of a house when they think no one is listening. — Polly Johnson

GSD?' murmured Mycroft. 'What in heaven's name is that?'
'Global Standard Deity,' answered Polly. 'It's a mixture of all the religions. I think it's meant to stop religious wars. — Jasper Fforde

Working lives are for the state to influence. Unemployment makes people unhappy. So does instability. — Polly Toynbee

She put him near the front door and a number of visitors were surprised that he would not answer to the name 'Polly', which is what all parrots were supposed to be called. — Gustave Flaubert

A fight forms a powerful and strange bond between men. — Matthew Polly

Awareness of having better things to do with their lives is the secret to immunizing our children against false values
whether presented on television or in "real life." The child who finds fulfillment in music or reading or cooking or swimming or writing or drawing is not as easily convinced that he needs recognition or power or some "high" to feel worthwhile. — Polly Berrien Berends

Polly came stepping very demurely down the stairs, but the demureness emphasized the gaiety of the crimson ribbons on her bonnet and the sparkle in her eyes, and as she came the bells began to ring. Isaac opened the front door and light and air and music poured in, broke against Emma like bright water against a dark rock, flowed around her, joined behind her, and to Isaac's fancy filled the house. "Shut the door, Isaac," said Emma sharply from the pavement. Isaac did so and then leaned against it chuckling. "Too late, Emma," he said. "It's in. — Elizabeth Goudge

If we allow our one-and-a-half year old to "help" us fold laundry he will learn something about buttons, zippers, snaps, where things go, the physical properties of cloth, what happens when you drop it, how easy or hard it is to carry compared with everything else he has ever carried, what clean clothes smell like, how a big towel can turn into a small bundle, how the small bundle you just folded can turn into a big towel again, plus any songs we care to sing or stories or related or unrelated facts we care to pass on. — Polly Berrien Berends

Oh, but Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, you haven't left me any time at all just to- to live. — Eleanor Porter

Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year. — Polly Toynbee

How is it that time can be elastic? Sometimes years seem to go by while you're looking the other way, and sometimes-when you most long for it to pass-life-times can stretch from a few hours — Polly Johnson

I don't think I will get married," Polly said as she stood up. "I'm going to train to be a hero instead. — Diana Wynne Jones

I am one of those people who can't help getting a kick out of life - even when it's a kick in the teeth. — Polly Adler

Amanda raised her glass in a toast. "Here's a wet one to Saint Iris of the Hummocks!" Then she winced and scowled at Riker, who had kicked her under the table. Polly raised her glass and quoted from Hamlet: "And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. — Lilian Jackson Braun

I was fanatically ambitious. All I ever wanted was to be a star. I didn't want to be a singer. I didn't want to be an actress. I wanted to be a star. — Polly Bergen

These three man," Mimi said, "are suspects in a recent theft. Last night, Polly Partial received a shipment of twenty blueberry pies. This morning she counted them and came up short."
"How many are missing?" I asked.
"Last night she had twenty," Harvey said, shutting the station door, "and today she found zero. So at least eighteen are missing."
"At least." I agreed. — Lemony Snicket

A house is not a home. — Polly Adler

Your heart often knows things before your mind does. — Polly Adler

Polly was a writer of many deadlines. There were the ignorable deadlines, the not-to-be-taken-too-seriously deadlines: the deadlines-before-the-deadlines deadlines, and finally, the no-kidding-around deadlines. She set these various dates, she'd told him, to fool herself. — Martha Grimes

Polly had arrived in the world outraged to discover that her sisters had gotten there before her. — Liane Moriarty

I couldn't live my reputation down - all right then, I'd live up to it. — Polly Adler

Style doesn't have seasons. — Polly Allen Mellen

My mother smoked too but I guessed by now she had quit the habit, which was, I supposed, one of the advantages of being shipwrecked. — Polly Horvath

We can see that the baby is as much an instrument of nourishment for us as we are for him. — Polly Berrien Berends

A red traffic light loomed, and Cecilia slammed her foot on the brake. The fact that Polly no longer wanted a pirate party was breathtakingly insignificant in comparison to that poor man (thirty!) crashing to the ground for the freedom that Cecilia took for granted, but right now, she couldn't pause to honor his memory, because a last-minute change of party theme was unacceptable. That's what happened when you had freedom. You lost your mind over a pirate party. — Liane Moriarty

to go out there, make a different and make this world — Shannon Polly

Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea. — Charles Dickens

I love cooking. People seem to enjoy my food, but I absolutely love it. I'm one of those people who will buy a cookery book and take it to bed and read it. — Polly Walker

But, Polly, a principle that can't bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn't worthy of the name. — Louisa May Alcott

Polly: Education with socialists, it's like sex, all right as long as you don't have to pay for it. — Alan Bennett

Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it.
Polly B. Berends — Polly Berrien Berends

This was not uncommon in government-run operations, where a request that someone do their job often induced a catatonic state that might last anywhere from a couple of minutes to an hour. — Matthew Polly

Mr. Klamp laid down the law. No tardiness, no talking above 40 decibels, no untied shoelaces, no visible undergarments, no eating, no chewing gum, no chewing tobacco, no chewing betel nuts, no chewing coca leaves, no chewing out students (unless Mr. Klamp was doing the chewing out), no chewing out teachers (unless ditto), no unnecessary displays of temper (unless ditto), no unnecessary displays of affection (no exceptions), no pets over one ounce or under one ton, and no singing, except in Bulgarian. I began to think Mr Klamp wouldn't be so bad ... — Polly Shulman

I'm a thinkin' my old man won't know de boys and de baby. Lor'! she's de biggest gal, now, - good she is, too, and peart, Polly is. She's out to the house, now, watchin' de hoe-cake. I 's got jist de very pattern my old man liked so much, a bakin'. Jist sich as I gin him the mornin' he was took off. Lord bless us! how I felt, dat ar morning!" Mrs. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

WHERE 'S Polly?" asked Fan one snowy afternoon, as she came into the dining-room where Tom was reposing on the sofa with his boots in the air, absorbed in one of those delightful books in which boys are cast away on desert islands, where every known fruit, vegetable and flower is in its prime all the year round; or, lost in boundless forests, where the young heroes have thrilling adventures, kill impossible beasts, and, when the author's invention gives out, suddenly find their way home, laden with tiger skins, tame buffaloes and other pleasing trophies of their prowess. — Louisa May Alcott

Who knows, he may grow up to be President someday, unless they hang him first!
Aunt Polly about Tom Sawyer — Mark Twain

I had an amazing advantage: a grandmother [Polly Noonan, an influential confidante of the mayor of Albany] who loved politics. She taught me not to listen to negative press or people. I grew up knowing politics was rough-and-tumble. — Kirsten Gillibrand

But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith. — Polly Toynbee

I saw several actresses play the part. I did not in fact, as far as I know, do anything that any of the other actresses did. I don't think actresses do that. I think that what we do is we see a role as a role, we don't see it as a person. We look at the role and think, 'What can I, as an actor, bring to that part? — Polly Bergen

The rural Chinese in Henan Province mixed alcohol and business like you wouldn't believe. Perhaps as a result, they also had a charming nationalistic blind spot: they honestly believed they could out-drink everyone else on the planet. As an Irish-American who outweighed them by 50 pounds, I had come to find this both amusing and useful. — Matthew Polly

What are you doing?"
"I'm darning a sock," he said, holding it up to show me.
"What's that lump inside?"
"A sock egg."
"A sock egg? I didn't know socks hatched from eggs."
"Only the best ones do. I can't wear the cheap kind, the ones that grow on trees. They give me blisters. — Polly Shulman

Never miss an opportunity to allow a child to do something she can and wants to on her own. Sometimes we're in too much of a rush
and she might spill something, or do it wrong. But whenever possible she needs to learn, error by error, lesson by lesson, to do better. And the more she is able to learn by herself the more she gets the message that she's a kid who can. — Polly Berrien Berends

What I mean is, all the terrible things that happen in fairy tales seem real. Or not real, but genuine. Life is unfair, and the bad guys keep winning and good people die. But I like how that's not always the end of it ... Evil is real, but so is good. They always say fairy tales are simplistic, black and white, but I don't think so. I think they're complicated. That's what I love about them. — Polly Shulman

Joe Spork opens the door. The man departs. Joe turns to Polly to say something about how they're obviously not going to Portsmouth, and finds an oyster knife balanced on his cheek, just under his eye.

"Can we be very clear," Polly Cradle murmurs, "that I am not your booby sidekick or your Bond girl? That I am an independent supervillain in my own right?"

Joe swallows. "Yes, we can," he says carefully.

"There will therefore be no more 'Say hello, Polly'?"

"There will not. — Nick Harkaway

I hate grunge. It was the worst period of my life. — Polly Allen Mellen

You know what Sunday is, it's a day with a lot of potential for naps. — Polly Horvath

O Polly, you might have toyed and kissed, by keeping men off, you keep them on. — John Gay

The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it. — Polly Berrien Berends

OU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME WITHOUT YOU HAVE READ A BOOK BY THE name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly - Tom's Aunt Polly, she is - and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. Now — Mark Twain

I want someone who puts the whole ball of wax at risk. I want the kind of marriage where we would follow each other out into the stormy fatal sea or I'm not marrying at all. — Polly Horvath

Polly's embarrassment revealed her regret that she should have given in to the age-old temptation of saying something disagreeable even to her oldest and most useful friend. But she had committed herself now. "I relate it," she replied in a bolder tone, "to my apprehension that you are using your perfectly proper wish to do great and noble things with Eric's money to disguise your equally natural desire to keep it out of the greedy hands of his family. — Louis Auchincloss

Did you get it back?"
"Of coarse, the very next day. And even if I hadn't-because there have been things I've been asked to give up for good ... Well, over the years here I've learned that sometimes a great loss is also a great gain." Under the slowly swirling freckles, Doc's face looked infinitely sad. Somehow I didn't find that reassuring. — Polly Shulman

Jewelry and clothes for Isabel and Polly. A piece of the Berlin Wall for Esther. — Liane Moriarty

It suddenly struck me - I'm 70 years old. I wonder if I could possibly end my life the way I started it: doing the most joyful thing I ever did, which is to sing. — Polly Bergen

I got some of their jabber out of a book. S'pose a man was to come to you and say Polly-voo-franzy - what would you think?" "I wouldn' think nuffn; I'd take en bust him over de head - dat — Mark Twain

Some of the stage outfits I've got are ridiculous. I'll lay out clothes to pack, and it'll look like Polly Pocket clothing - because it's all stretchy, it's tiny. I don't need a case when I tour; I can fit it all in my handbag. — Jessie J.

Certainly,' said his mother, 'but first I want to know about the accident with your bicycle.'
Well,' Phillip said, 'if you wanta really know. I was sitting in the basket of my bike ridin' down Mission Hill backwards singing 'Polly Wolly Doodle' and I saw the bread truck comin' and I guess I didn't turn soon enough and I ran into the Wallaces' iron fence and I caught my shoe on the pedal and my pants on a picket and I hit my eye on the handlebars and I don't know what else happened. But, boy, you should have heard the kids and that ole breadman laugh! — Betty MacDonald

The child does not begin to fall until she becomes seriously interested in walking, until she actually begins walking. Falling is thus more an indication of learning than a sign of failure. — Polly Berrien Berends

One in six people suffer depression or a chronic anxiety disorder. These are not the worried well but those in severe mental pain with conditions crippling enough to prevent them living normal lives. — Polly Toynbee

Then with Lucy [Hale], her little thing that I kind of learned from her is her country music because she's obsessed with country and at the beginning, I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I was listening to some songs that she plays in the hair and makeup room and she's also so funny, too. She does these character impersonations and they're just so funny. Made up characters of course, but she can switch into someone else so fast. I'm always laughing at Lucy and she's like a little Polly Pocket, you know? The tiny one. — Shay Mitchell

Even people who know nothing about Greece know something about Greece. The very name sparks visions of ancient civilizations that dominated the Mediterranean. — Polly Letofsky