Dodie Smith
The Devil's out of fashion.Collection: Fashion
I could marry the Devil himself if he had some money.Collection: Devil
I like seeing people when they can't see me.Collection: People
Everything in the least connected with him has value for me; if someone even mentions his name it is like a little present to me-and I long to mention it myselfCollection: Names
Oh, it is wonderful to wake up in the morning with things to look forward to!Collection: Morning
Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.Collection: Ruthlessness
It's a beautiful sight to see good dancers doing simple steps. It's a painful sight to see beginners doing complicated patterns.Collection: Beautiful
Thinking of death--strange, beautiful, terrible and a long way off--made me feel happier than ever.Collection: Beautiful
Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?Collection: Summer
Perhaps if I make myself write I shall find out what is wrong with me.Collection: Writing
I am a restlessness inside a stillness inside a restlessness.Collection: Stillness
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.Collection: Real
a loss of sensibility follows a loss of innocence, at once a penalty and a compensation.Collection: Loss
Cruel blows of fate call for extreme kindness in the family circle.Collection: Kindness
Wakings are the worst times--almost before my eyes are open a great weight seems to roll on my heart.Collection: Heart
It's odd how different a house feels when one is alone in it. It makes it easier to think rather private thoughts.Collection: Thinking
The one Bach piece I learnt made me feel I was being repeatedly hit on the head with a teaspoon.Collection: Pieces
My hand is very tired but I want to go on writing. I keep resting and thinking. All day I have been two people - the me imprisoned in yesterday and the me out here on the mound; and now there is a third me trying to get in - the me in what is going to happen next.Collection: Writing
I wanted to know more about the young ... strange that though they laughed so loud, they so seldom smiled. Perhaps laughter was involuntary whereas smiling was part of an attitude to life.Collection: Laughter
I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.Collection: Writing
They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here, and sea fog, and eerie stories. That's not because there are more ghosts here than in other places, mind you. It's just that people who live hereabouts are strangely aware of them.Collection: Ocean
Though he had very little Latin beyond "Cave canem," he had, as a young dog, devoured Shakespeare (in a tasty leather binding).Collection: Dog
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.Collection: Book
extreme happiness invites religion almost as much as extreme misery.Collection: Misery
Walking down Belmotte was the oddest sensation-- every step took us deeper into the mist until at last it closed over our heads. It was like being drowned in the ghost of water.Collection: Water
I believe it is customary to get one's washing over first in baths and bask afterwards; personally, I bask first. I have discovered that the first few minutes are the best and not to be wasted-- my brain always seethes with ideas and life suddenly looks much better than did.Collection: Believe
And no bathroom on earth will make up for marrying a bearded man you hate.Collection: Hate
Stew's so comforting on a rainy day.Collection: Rainy Day
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.Collection: Father
Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.Collection: England
I know all about the facts of life, and I don't think much of them.Collection: Thinking
Still, looking through the old volumes was soothing, because thinking of the past made the present seem a little less real.Collection: Real
I have really sinned. I am going to pause now, and sit here on the mound repenting in deepest shame.Collection: Shame
I should rather like to tear these last pages out of the book. Shall I? No-a journal ought not to cheat.Collection: Book
... for I know I shall be interrupted-- I shall want to be, really, because life is too exciting to sit still for long.Collection: Long
And at last father flung the rug off as if it were hampering him and strode over to the table saying, 'cocoa, cocoa!'-- it might have been the most magnificent drink in the world; which, personally, I think it is.Collection: Father
Prayer's a very tricky business.Collection: Prayer
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.Collection: Love
The tea was a comfort - and by that time I more than needed comfort.Collection: Tea
So many of the loveliest things in England are melancholy.Collection: England
He laughed a little, in an odd, nervous kind of way. "Because if I don't get going soon, the whole impetus may die--and if that happens, well, I really shall consider a long, restful plunge into insanity. Sometimes the abyss yawns very attractively.Collection: Long
Topaz was wonderfully patient - but sometimes I wonder if it is not only patience, but also a faint resemblance to cows.Collection: Cows
How can a young man like to wear a beard?Collection: Men
...With stories even a page can take me hours, but the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down.Collection: Stories
Rose doesn’t like the flat country, but I always did – flat country seems to give the sky such a chance.Collection: Country
I think it [religion] is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.Collection: Art
I wonder if there isn't a catch about having plenty of money? Does it eventually take the pleasure out of things?Collection: Money
I have noticed that rooms which are extra clean feel extra coldCollection: Rooms
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.Collection: Reading