Quotes from book
I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle
Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle is the first novel by the British author Dodie Smith, written during the Second World War when she and her husband Alec Beesley were living in California. She longed for home and wrote of a happier time, unspecified in the novel apart from a reference to living in the 1930s. Smith was already an established playwright and later became famous for writing the children's classic The Hundred and One Dalmatians.

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“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.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“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.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“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.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“It is rather exciting to write by moonlight.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

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

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

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle