Dodie Smith Quotes

“I like seeing people when they can't see me.”

“And no bathroom on earth will make up for marrying a bearded man you hate.”

“I have really sinned. I am going to pause now, and sit here on the mound repenting in deepest shame…”

“Cruel blows of fate call for extreme kindness in the family circle.”

“The Devil's out of fashion.”

“Thinking of death--strange, beautiful, terrible and a long way off--made me feel happier than ever.”

“I think it [religion] is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.”

“It's odd how different a house feels when one is alone in it. It makes it easier to think rather private thoughts…”

“We were restless for ages… After a while I heard an owl hooting and calmed myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields – and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice. I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian.”

“I know all about the facts of life, and I don't think much of them.”

“Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“If you love people, you take them on trust.”

“Only half a page left now. Shall I fill it with 'I love you, I love you'-- like father's page of cats on the mat? No. Even a broken heart doesn't warrant a waste of good paper.”

“There is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love.”

“How I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel!”

“I only want to write. And there's no college for that except life.”

“When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it - or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don't suppose many people try to do it.”

“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.”

“Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?”

“Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing.”

“Even a broken heart doesn't warrant a waste of good paper.”

“… I have noticed that when things happen in one's imaginings, they never happen in one's life, so I am curbing myself.”

“Perhaps if I make myself write I shall find out what is wrong with me.”

“Oh, it is wonderful to wake up in the morning with things to look forward to!”

“I was wandering around as usual, in my unpleasantly populated sub-conscious…”

“Ah, but you're the insidious type--Jane Eyre with of touch of Becky Sharp. A thoroughly dangerous girl.”

“It is rather exciting to write by moonlight.”

“Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.”

“Was I the only woman in the world who, at my age - and after a lifetime of quite rampant independence - still did not quite feel grown up?”

“I have noticed that rooms which are extra clean feel extra cold”

“I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather God has to offer.”

“Rose doesn’t like the flat country, but I always did – flat country seems to give the sky such a chance.”

“So many of the loveliest things in England are melancholy.”

“But some characters in books are really real--Jane Austen's are; and I know those five Bennets at the opening of Pride and Prejudice, simply waiting to raven the young men at Netherfield Park, are not giving one thought to the real facts of marriage.”

“I wonder if there isn't a catch about having plenty of money? Does it eventually take the pleasure out of things?”

“I wanted so terribly to be good to him.”

“Still, looking through the old volumes was soothing, because thinking of the past made the present seem a little less real.”

“My imagination longs to dash ahead and plan developments; but I have noticed that when things happen in one's imaginings, they never happen in one's life, so I am curbing myself.”

“Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.”

“… for I know I shall be interrupted-- I shall want to be, really, because life is too exciting to sit still for long.”

“Stew's so comforting on a rainy day.”

“I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.”

“I found it quite easy to carry on a casual conversation it was as if my real feelings were down fathoms deep in my mind and what we said was just a feathery surface spray.”

“… surely I could give him--a sort of contentment…

That isn't enough to give. Not for the giver.”

“Certain unique books seem to be without forerunners or successors as far as their authors are concerned. Even though they may profoundly influence the work of other writers, for their creator they're complete, not leading anywhere.”