Paula Brackston > Quotes

“Better foolish and honest than clever and false.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“If you are not able to travel, he told me, the next best thing is to read. Read all you can, girl. And store up that knowledge, for you never know when you will need it.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“To learn, you must be humble. You must be prepared to admit your ignorance. You must allow yourselves to be filled with the vital information presented to you via the skills and dedication of those who have gone before you down the long path to enlightenment.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“what can be imagined can be brought into being.”
― Paula Brackston, The Little Shop of Found Things

“For, what is home? Surely more than a set of rooms, a roof, an address? Home suggests belonging. Suggests warmth, safety, companionship. Love.”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“There is none so quick to dismiss what they don’t understand as those who are afraid of it. And maybe with reason.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“Poverty has a way of taking the edge off principles. Hunger can blunt them altogether.”
― Paula Brackston, The Midnight Witch

“there is no courage in being fearless. Do you not know that? A person who knows fear and yet can still think of others, well, he be a brave man.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“Faith requires no proof. No evidence. No explanation. Faith is entirely a matter of trust and belief. We cannot know, we can only believe.”
― Paula Brackston, The Midnight Witch

“Reputation is for those who can afford it.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“If you are not able to travel,” he told me, “the next best thing is to read. Read all you can, girl. And store up that knowledge, for you never know when you will need it.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“We are each mistresses of our own happiness. We ought not to look to others to supply it.”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“Knowledge cannot be unknown. Experience cannot be unlived.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“And secrets are dangerous. They start small but grow with every evasive answer or outright lie that protects them. Nevertheless, I confess to finding the closeness such conspiracy breeds irresistibly delicious.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“Must we always bedeck ourselves in prettiness to be thought pleasing? It would appear so. A woman must look a certain way to be worthy of a man’s attentions. It is expected.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“My mind is like the willow; it flexes and springs. My heart is a knot of oak. Let them try to wound me.”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“fear it is written somewhere in the terms of my parental contract: Fret frequently about well-being of offspring.”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“And where shall I look for thee, When I no longer hear that voice so dear? Where shall I seek the warmth that love Made all things found glow bright and clear? Look not to the heavenly stars, Nor search the lofty spires, nor bid the choir sing. I will dwell among the details of our lives; My memory will linger in all the found things. —DAPHNE BURTON-GORE”
― Paula Brackston, The Little Shop of Found Things

“If you are not able to travel,” he told me, “the next best thing is to read.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“After all, are we not measured by the way in which we treat the most vulnerable members of our society?”
― Paula Brackston, The Little Shop of Found Things

“And as for company … I do not crave the companionship of other women, for I have never found one who did not judge me against herself and find me either to be envied or pitied. As for the friendship of men … well, when the day comes when one is man enough to treat me as his equal, then, only then, will I allow desire to be my guide.”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“Who was it, I wonder, who decided that heartbroken relatives should host a party at the very moment all they wished for was to be left alone to grieve?”
― Paula Brackston, The Midnight Witch

“There is comfort to be had in the company of wild things and delight to be found in their trust.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“How much more tuneful are the birds of the woods than the birds of the water. Ducks and geese make their raucous racket without once finding a note of sweetness, whilst these tree dwellers are practiced in the art of melody. I”
― Paula Brackston, The Silver Witch

“Nevertheless, disease and misfortune knew no social bounds. Nor did the immensely dangerous business of childbirth.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter

“She needs the hand of friendship extended. Are we not all of us, at some time or another, dependent on the kindness of others? Would we not wish someone to act selflessly for our sake?”
― Paula Brackston, The Little Shop of Found Things

“There is such a magic inside of you, Tegan. Your breath carries magic onto the zephyr, your pores ooze magic onto your skin, your soul thrums with magic, indeed, your very bones vibrate with it. And still you do not believe, not in yourself. It is up to you to accept the gifts given you, child. It is up to you to revel in your own unique power. And when you do, when that moment of epiphany comes, you will be all that you can be. You will be Tegan Hedfan—The Fair One Who Flies.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“If to be in love is to lose one’s self then I am as in love as it is possible to be, for I am utterly lost! My head is filled with thoughts of him, of the man who has so unexpectedly yet so completely claimed my heart. When I close my eyes I see him. When I dream it is of him. When I try to read a novel the words shift upon the page until they spell out his name. I am like a giddy girl, unable to be still or serious for a minute, flitting from one imagining to the next, all of him.”
― Paula Brackston, The Midnight Witch

“...I hold the thought to my heart, and hear it sing.”
― Paula Brackston, The Winter Witch

“Many in Batchcombe have suffered greatly, William. They look for someone to blame. It was my mother who made me see that.” She hesitated, then added, “People fear what they cannot explain.”
― Paula Brackston, The Witch's Daughter