Hilda van Stockum > Quotes

“Knowledge is a matter of knowing facts. Wisdom is a matter of understanding and applying principles. A certain amount of knowledge is necessary for wisdom, and without wisdom, knowledge is not only useless, it's dangerous.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Winged Watchman

“It is much easier to believe lies than the truth."
"Why?" asked Janna.
"Because lies are manufactured to satisfy the emotions. A mother would rather believe her pretty girl lazy than accept the fact that she's a dumb cluck. Germans would rather believe they were stabbed in the back than that they lost a fair fight. And anyone would rather blame someone else for his misfortunes. The truth is hard. Don't fool with it unless you realize that.”
― Hilda Van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“She thought it must be a lonely life for a boy who hated books.”
― Hilda Van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“In the camp we saw our own people kill each other over a crust of bread. In the old days I used to think that religion did not matter much, that people could be good without it. That was not true in the camps. If you had no hope or faith to keep you human, you sank to the lowest depths. I'll practice my religion more faithfully now.”
― Hilda Van Stockum, The Winged Watchman

“How will I ever learn the truth then?" asked Janna despondently.

"The way other people learn it, " said Hugo. "Do you think newspaper reporters find it easy to learn the truth? They may have to interrogate many liars, sift the facts, and draw their own conclusions. Or judges.... think of their difficulties, yet a human life may depend on what they decide. Then take scientists, how many years of patient observation it takes them to find out the tiniest truth about our universe. You want to be spoon-fed. You've just learned that you may not have the true idea of what is going on, and you want to spend no thought and effort on it yourself. That's a bad attitude. There's a library full of information right here... with enough books in German for you to do some research. Besides, your Dutch is getting good. You have brains, use them.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“But remember that truth itself becomes a lie in the twisted minds of our conquerors.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Winged Watchman

“She’s wearing one of the dresses of ... of the people ... who lived here before.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“Mother,” said Janna, “if the Frosches were here first, why do they have the fourth floor? Why did they not take the one we have?” “The Baron arranged it all,” her mother said curtly.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“It is much easier to believe lies than the truth.” “Why?” asked Janna. “Because lies are manufactured to satisfy the emotions. A mother would rather believe her pretty girl lazy than accept the fact that she’s a dumb cluck. Germans would rather believe they were stabbed in the back than that they lost a fair fight. And anyone would rather blame someone else for his misfortunes. The truth is hard.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“I think we ought to have a club. We're a rather special family, you know.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Mitchells: Five for Victory

“Knowledge is a matter of knowing facts. Wisdom is a matter of understanding and applying principles. A certain amount of knowledge is necessary for wisdom, and without wisdom, knowledge is not only useless, it's dangerous.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Winged Watchman

“If you come back I’ll show you a secret,” said Heinz.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Borrowed House

“When you have your head full of fairies who get things done by magic it's hard to imagine yourself in a world at war where vulgar effort is required.”
― Hilda van Stockum, The Mitchells: Five for Victory