L.M. Elliott > Quotes

“Poetry, plays, novels, music, they are the cry of the human spirit trying to understand itself and make sense of our world.”
― Laura Malone Elliott, Annie, Between the States

“Simplicity provides the highest sophistication, the greatest elegance, after all.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“As you go forward, then, remember this: most men are hunters and collectors. You must come to know the difference between those who do so out of true appreciation and affection, those who do it for sport, those who do it for prestige and to possess what others admire and desire, and those who do it desperate to use a woman as a shield. The fourth man is hiding something. The third man can be like a dog that teases others in it's kennel with the bone it will never share. That kind of man might tear his object of affection to shreds, without meaning to, just as a dog would a bone. The second man can amuse you with the game of the hunt, if you do not take him too seriously. and the first? Well, if you can find the first kind of man, you have found heaven.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“Remember that it doesn't matter where someone comes from, but where that person is going.”
― L.m. Elliott

“I find experience to be a truer guide than the words of others.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“What’s the point of loving, if you don’t feel it utterly?”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship

“That takes such active, intelligent creativity, analyzing the emotions a composer intends in those scratchy notes on a page, learning and perfecting the technique that gives you the skill to bring those skeletal notations to full-fleshed life in your performance. As far as I am concerned, Eliza, that is the greatest act of intelligence a human being is capable of. Music is air made rapturous, achieving the sublime, catching the harmony of the spheres for a fleeting moment so we can hear it. It is the closest we get to God. So, therefore, it is pure brilliance of the soul.”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship

“I find it foolishness, this idea that a rose is merely a momentary expression of the absolute truth of beauty that we can only recognize through contemplation. I believe reality is rooted right here on earth, in nature. I also believe we come to understand our universe through active observation brought through our senses, not praying or meditating. It's our senses that allow us to watch and hear and feel and then comprehend the processes behind the phenomenon of light, water, a bodies movement, the birds flight... The blush of a woman's face.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“Love is a bittersweet fruit indeed.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“...a story can speak to a soul different ways at different times, getting better with every reading.”
― L.M. Elliott, Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves

“Sorrow is a different thing, ladies. Here's what life has taught me about that. I have felt sadness so sharp that is has knocked me to my knees - literally - and made it almost impossible to breathe. For days. Even weeks. That's grieving. That's normal when you've had a terrible loss or shock.

My advice on sadness is not to ignore it, not dismiss it. Stare sorrow straight in the face. Recognize the pain for what it is. Then it will be back down a tad and walk beside you, maybe give you a little bit of a limp for a while, or for forever. But it will not undo you or sneak up on you from behind in a surprise attack. Of course, doing that - facing sorrow head-on and accepting its presence as an unwanted but tolerated companion - takes honesty, courage, and a bit of spit. " -Belle”
― L.M. Elliott, Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves

“There is a difference between anger and hate, child. Ange at this war, anger at the men who shelled your daddy's tugboat and the officers ordering that kind of attack, anger at people who'd follow a monster like Hitler? It's hatred you really want to fight off, child. Hatred is poison." -Belle”
― L.M. Elliott, Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves

“She shrugged. "Whether you care to admit it or not, we have met."
"Perhaps in a dream, then?" he quipped.
"Hardly. More of a nightmare, I'd call it.”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship

“It is the eyes that let one into that sanctum, into a persons essence.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“A poet cannot do with the pen with the painter can with his brush.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“The poet addresses the ear, while the painter engages the body. The eye is the nobler sense. It is as simple as comparing a puppet that has been torn apart and lies and pieces to fully united body. A poet can only describe a human figure bit by bit, consecutively, and using a great many words. Neck, shoulders, lips, brows, teeth, eyes...While a painter... A painter can present all parts of the being simultaneously, as a whole. It is far less tedious than poetry.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“Wear virtue like armor in a joust for eternity and for your own sense of self.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“Life without honor is a living death.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“You may be placed within a gilded cage of men's perceptions of you. They will stand and admire you- which is a blessing and a curse. It can be a lonely thing to be turned into an ideal, especially when one is young and has a heart that beats and yearns. But don't forget that from that perch, you can see and experience the wonders of this mortal world, wonders that men control- its art, its literature, its music. Most importantly you can make the choice of songs you sing within the cage. With your mind and gifts, it can be an exquisite litany. Sing of us. Sing of yourself. Sing of what treasure lies inside women's hearts and minds if men but look beyond their preconceived notions. We think, we feel, we bleed when hurt. We have courage when tested. Someday men may laud rather than fear that. That is my hope.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“Henry sighed in relief. He could hear his ma reciting: : "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures....He restoreth my soul..."
Henry's face felt wet. A wispy cloud passed over him. He held his hands up, closed his eyes and thrilled to the feel of clouds at his fingertips.”
― L M Elliott

“(The sea) is a vast horizon of unpredictable gray-green, sometimes as placid and alluring as sleep, sometimes as terrifying as God's wrath. It stretches and stretches, pulling your heart and your imagination with it, knowing that beyond where you can see are completely foreign lands, uncharted possibilities, and absolute freedom on the way there. There are no rules that man can make to tame the sea. He must brave it and ride it out, always alert for opportunity or threat. On the sea, man lives his fullest, his most alive.”
― L.M. Elliott, Da Vinci's Tiger

“It can be hard to be the younger sister of learned and witty and captivating woman. Out of fear to be compared and found wanting, it is safer sometimes to remain quiet.”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship

“God save great Washington, Fair Freedom's chosen son;
Long to command.
Next in our Song shall be, Gaurdian of Liberty,
Louis the King
Terrible god of War.'
Lafayette sprung to his feet. 'Vive la France! Vivez l'Amerique! Vive George Washington!”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship

“Music is the air made rapturous, achieving the sublime, capturing the harmony of the spheres for a fleeting moment so we can hear it. It is the closest we get to God. So, therefore, it is pure brilliance of the soul.”
― L.M. Elliott, Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship