Maryrose Wood > Quotes

“All books are judged by their covers until they are read.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“If it were easy to resist, it would not be called chocolate cake.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“[A]s Agatha Swanburne once said, 'To be kept waiting is unfortunate, but to be kept waiting with nothing interesting to read is a tragedy of Greek proportions.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Hidden Gallery

“Nowadays, people resort to all kinds of activities in order to calm themselves after a stressful event: performing yoga poses in a sauna, leaping off bridges while tied to a bungee, killing imaginary zombies with imaginary weapons, and so forth. But in Miss Penelope Lumley's day, it was universally understood that there is nothing like a nice cup of tea to settle one's nerves in the aftermath of an adventure- a practice many would find well worth reviving.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Hidden Gallery

“Clearly, being anxious is a full-time and rather exhausting occupation.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“When the impossible becomes merely difficult, that's when you know you've won." - Agatha Swanburne”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“A well-organized stocking drawer is the first step toward a well-organized mind.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“You flesh bodies are so obsessed with goodness, yet no other form of life on earth is capable of such cruelty. You need only convince yourselves your transgressions serve some 'purpose.' Even if it is only greed, or lust, or the raw desire for power that drives you. You will spill the blood of your kinsmen, lay waste to the earth itself, wreak havoc, and cause unspeakable suffering---any and all sins are justified, as long as they are a means to your precous, righteous 'purpose'.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Poison Diaries

“No hopeless case is truly without hope." - Agatha Swanburne”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“If you have ever opened a can of worms, boxed yourself into a corner, ended up in hot water, or found yourself in a pretty pickle, you already know that life is rarely (if ever) just a bowl of cherries.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“Complaining doesn't butter the biscuit" -Agatha Swanburne”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“When the impossible becomes merely difficult, that's when you know you've won.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Unmapped Sea

“Call it professional interest. You see, Jessamine, love is a kind of poison; one of my favorite kinds, in fact. It infects the blood; it takes over the mind; it seizes dominion over the body. It amuses me to think of him pining for you. Aching for what he cannot have. The loneliness in his soul is festering like a wound. There is nothing I could do for him that is worse that what you have already done, my lovely. And I assure you, in his case there will be no cure.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Poison Diaries

“To do something familiar and succeed is no surprise, but to try something new and fail--why, that is the start of an adventure.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Unmapped Sea

“That is the purpose of museums, of course. One does not go merely to collect facts and souvenirs and picture post cards, but to enlarge one's notion of all that has been, and all that is, and all that might be. In this way we begin to understand what part each of us was born to play in the marvelous tale of existence.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Unmapped Sea

“I will have the children read Hamlet as soon as it is practical. There are some useful cautions against eavesdropping to be gleaned from that.”
― maryrose wood, The Mysterious Howling

“Nothing good was ever learned from eavesdropping, so mind your business and let others mind theirs.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“I supposed this is what is meant by 'growing up'...Find out the difference between what one expected one's life would be like and how things really are" -Lady Constance”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“Weed Rises to his feet. "Nature," he says softly, "makes so many beautiful things. But I did not know until you that nature could make a girl so beautiful.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Poison Diaries

“There is no alarm clock like embarassment.”
― Maryrose Wood

“Busy hands and idle minds have knitted many a sweater; Busy minds and idle hands have knitted many a brow.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Unseen Guest

“foxglove

IN THE

oleander

RIGHT DOSE

moonseed

EVERYTHING

belladonna

IS A POISON

love.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Poison Diaries

“In the words of Agatha Swanburne, founder of Swanburne Academy, "Every book is judged by its cover until it is read.”
― Maryrose Wood

“This memory was both happy and sad: happy because it was so pleasant, and sad because it made Penelope think about how much she missed Swanburne--the girls, the teachers, Miss Mortimer. Or perhaps it was her own much younger self, that pint-sized person whom she could never be again, whom she missed. It was hard to say.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“But when the seesaw of good fortune sinks downward for one person, it is very often on its way up for someone else. This little-known law of physics is called the Fulcrum of Fortune, and although most people prefer to think of fortune as a wheel that spins, the fulcrum (that is, seesaw) is a more accurate depiction for most of us, since the worse our own luck becomes, the more likely we are to notice the good fortune of those around us and brood about the injustice of it all.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Hidden Gallery

“That which can be purchases at a shop is easily left in a taxi; that which you carry inside you is difficult, though not impossible, to misplace" -Agatha Swanburne”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“If both of your shoes are shined, then your best foot will always be forward.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Interrupted Tale

“In this way Penelope's happy and sad feelings got all mixed up together, until they were not unlike one of those delicious cookies they have nowadays, the ones with a flat circle of sugary cream sandwiched between two chocolate-flavored wafers. In her heart she felt a soft, hidden core of sweet melancholy nestled inside crisp outer layers of joy, and if that is not the very sensation most people feel at some point or other during the holidays, then one would be hard pressed to say what is.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“Elk have not been seen in Switzerland for many a year. In the interests of scientific accuracy, please strike the idea of elk from your mind. If you must, think of ibexes instead, a fierce and agile type of goat with great spiraling horns. Marmots will also do in a pinch, but under no circumstances should you think of elk. No. Elk. The elkless among you may now proceed.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Unseen Guest

“If you have ever opened a can of worms, boxed yourself into a corner, ended up in hot water, or found yourself in a pretty pickle, you already know that life is rarely (if ever) just a bowl of cherries. It is far more likely to be a bowl of problems, worries, and difficulties. This is normal and should not be cause for alarm.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling