Catherine Gilbert Murdock > Quotes

“When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“Every fairy tale, it seems, concludes with the bland phrase "happily ever after." Yet every couple I have ever known would agree that nothing about marriage is forever happy. There are moments of bliss, to be sure, and lengthy spans of satisfied companionship. Yet these come at no small effort, and the girl who reads such fiction dreaming her troubles will end ere she departs the altar is well advised to seek at once a rational women to set her straight.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“She says you're not truly human until you've had your heart broken and you've broken someone's heart.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor - challenging indeed with one shoe - and around the corner. I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the book's assistance, I would have climbed at once to my wizard room for a spell with which to punish him. Death, perhaps, or humiliation. A croaking frog would be nice, particularly a frog that retained Florian's dark eyes. I should keep it in a box and poke it occasionally with a stick; that would be satisfying indeed.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was?”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“It was like he was in a contest to see who could do the least work, only he was the only contestant.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“But it turns out that even if I don’t talk a lot, when it’s something that matters I still have a lot to say.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“What is a staircase, but a corridor improved by elevation?”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“Everyone I looked at, their whole lives, did exactly what they were supposed to do
without even questioning it, without even wondering if they could
do something different.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“Everyone's scared. So scared they can't sleep sometimes. Or eat. Or keep their weight on."
"Then why bother playing?" I asked. It was a whisper, this question.
"Because. You love the game. You love the people you play with. You love winning, maybe. You love that one moment when you get it right . . . I dunno. Why do you play?"
"Because," I whispered, "it's who I am."
Sounds like a good reason to me.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“And have your mother put my head on a stake? Do you have any notion what that would do to my handsome good looks?”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“I hate it when people make fun of me and it turns out they're right.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“Sometimes,well,all the time,I can't think of what to say because I'm so dumb and stuff,and then maybe I think of it like five days later.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“And if I didn’t, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I’d had the guts to try.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“So what if Brian made me feel like fireworks were going off inside me. He could also make me feel like a big fat clod of heartsick dirt. It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“It kind of struck me how great it would be to go out with a guy that size. And if you, you know, got tired of dating him, you could always use him as a house or something.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“Despite all my public misconduct, in the past year, I had learned the Elemental spells, the Doppelschläferin, and the preparation and flying of a magic broom; I had survived two months as prisoner of war, saving the life of captain Johanne in the process; I had escaped the dungeons of Fortress Drachensbett, and after an arduous journey successfully reunited with my double, so preserving her, and all Montagne, from Prince Flonian's rapacity, I would somehow master the despicable art of being a princess.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“I ultimately decided to hold my tongue and settle instead for the comfort of ignorance. Not knowing the truth, I retained hope, and that hope I held like a smooth warm stone against my heart.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that’s the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“And it occurred to me that the reason she makes it work, probably, is because she's so comfortable with herself. And you know, that's not such a bad notion, in the whole life-lesson business. Being comfortable with yourself. Because if you're not okay with who you are, why should anyone else be?”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“And that's where our conversation went from there, than God, both of us laughing our butts off at the thought of a hoops game between two teams on intravenous fluids. Which makes absolutely no sense at all; I know that. But that's why it cheered me up, because it was so absolutely stupid. It cheered me up more than I'd ever thought I'd be cheered up again.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“I’d promised myself that I’d really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, The Off Season

“Oh. Listen, this is really hard for me . . . "
"What is?"
"You know. Being liked." I started to cry. I couldn't help it.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock

“Why was it that jam always coated me so?”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Princess Ben

“I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“You can’t think about how much you have left to do because that’s just one thought, one sad thought, that’ll make you bummed out all day long. Instead you’ve got to think about how much you’ve already done.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“Still, I couldn't get over Dad calling those farmers. People might think helping is hard, but really that's the easy part; just look how good it makes people feel. Look how happy all those Red Bend ladies were about chipping in. It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real strength, to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. Mom must really be hurting for Dad to be so brave.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center

“But you know, even worrying about haircuts couldn't depress me. Because every time I started sinking low, I'd just remember about football. All this time I'd thought I wanted to be a trainer, when it turned out I wanted to be a player instead. I saw something I wanted to do and I decided to do it. The feeling of freedom this gave me—I can't even describe it. It was my decision. I chose it. I am not a cow.”
― Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Dairy Queen

“And I have to tell you, as tough as farming is, the idea of farming when you’re losing money year after year... that’s not life even, that’s like death. That’s eternal damnation.”
― Catherine Murdock