Kate Alcott > Quotes

“Life is an act—most of it, anyway. Get out there today and pretend you’re in charge, for goodness’ sake. Do you hear me? Lift up your head and pretend.” A flicker of a smile passed over her face. “It’s the secret to everything.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“My dear, here is lesson number one for using opportunity; waste no time on false humility. Tell the world about your achievements don't wait for someone else to do it.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“You have to humor them you know." Lucile sighed lightly as the door closed. "Men can be boring, but they are necessary. One needs to learn to work around them. Don't you think so?”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“Children should have some warning, some way of knowing it was dangerous to look out at the world with unguarded pleasure. But who would want to tell them, to deprive them of those few moments of blissful ignorance that would have to last a lifetime?”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell

“if you wait for everything to be just right in your life, you'll never get any happiness. You have to fight for it. And the minute you start fighting for something, you've won. The end doesn't matter.”
― Kate Alcott, A Touch of Stardust

“You know one of the best things? Women gathering, marching, doing anything together makes a lot of men go crazy. They yell and scream and taunt and shake their fists. You know why? They're scared. They're scared we'll actually gain power and force them to change.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“Trouble? Everybody gets into trouble in America -- That's what it's about.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“And it's not red, it's auburn, and I'm not feisty or tempestuous or any of the other things red hair is supposed to signify. Anyways, as I said, it's auburn.”
― Kate Alcott

“It looks beautiful from out here, but nothing glitters quite as much when you get close up.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“My dear, here is lesson number one for using opportunity: waste no time on false humility. Tell the world about your achievements; don't wait for someone else to do it.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“I've told you to look for opportunity, dear Tess. Keep your head up, not down. Don't settle for safety. Push forward-you are not foolish to try.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“I like my life now," she said. "I don't need it to change."
"But it is changing," Benjamin Stanhope said, "None of us can hold things where we want them to be. It is all slipping and changing, Alice.”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell

“The day was beautiful, that first day in September, the kind of perfect day that made life something to savor, when hot dogs really were delicious, ice cream was served, and egos were forgotten.”
― Kate Alcott, A Touch of Stardust

“The view was breathtaking. Her gaze swept out across the splendid, exciting square. Yes, she could see the horizon, the view so much more sweeping than she had expected. She saw now what Jim had seen, what had been there all the time. So much to do and know, and yes, she could do this.
And then she saw something else. A familiar figure, cap pushed back, walking toward her. She saw him moving closer, saw those clear, blue eyes. She heard a laugh-- whose? Her own. And it was all right. She could be right or wrong, but her vow to herself was clear now. She would be strong and not always too careful, not settle for a smaller life, and face what was true.
What was true? Perhaps it was here, staring her in the face.
"May I help you down?" Jim said. He was standing beneath her now, his hands on the bridle, looking up, his eyes alight.
Palms up, arms stretched out, she reached toward him.
"Yes," she said.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“She could allow herself to think of Jim, too. To remember the energy and the excitement of life bursting from him, surrounding her, making her laugh and dream and think-- that's what he represented. Not security just hope.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“Most of us start from nothing, with plenty of rejection. I remind myself of that whenever I get to feeling too important.”
― Kate Alcott, A Touch of Stardust

“Creative people live in mortal fear of tossing their seed on barren ground.”
― Kate Alcott

“What did it clarify for you?" Pinky asked.
Mrs. Brown laughed. "Told me to keep doing and saying what I dam well please, and not be bamboozled by anyone. Life is too short - no mulling things over for a dozen years or so. What about you?"
"I wasn't on the ship”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“If all the lifeboats were on the upper deck, then mostly first-class passengers survived?”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“Otherwise the people who did the hard, dangerous work at the mill that allowed his family to live in luxury would surely rebel.”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell

“Mother didn’t just fear bad things would happen, she was sure they would. It was part of her faith. Sin was everywhere.”
― Kate Alcott, The Hollywood Daughter

“There would be a scramble now―everybody in Congress would be grandstanding and orating and introducing addled legislation that would do nothing. The usual harebrained response.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“None of us is all that certain. But we have to pretend to be.”
― Kate Alcott

“settled her ample figure”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell

“Don’t tar all with the same brush”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell

“Someone that immediately touchy was probably a servant. “How did you end up on the Titanic?” Pinky asked. She tried not to make her voice hurried, but she couldn’t waste time if she was going to get more interviews before Smith and his crowd caught her.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

“He said what nobody understood was, she always felt like a bird in a cage--she wanted to be without roots.”
― Kate Alcott, The Hollywood Daughter

“Well, well. We tend to speak our minds, we girls from Fort Wayne.”
― Kate Alcott, A Touch of Stardust

“Movies teach us how to do that,' Carole had confided. 'Create a set, sprinkle a touch of stardust. Who gives a shit if it's real? Just make it good enough to believe.”
― Kate Alcott, A Touch of Stardust

“Girls like herself could write and publish poetry and stories without pretending to be male; no need to hide.”
― Kate Alcott, The Daring Ladies of Lowell