Jon Hassler > Quotes

“He regarded his briefcase. It was full of student papers—114 essays entitled “What I Wish.” He had been putting off reading them for over a week. He opened the briefcase, then paused, reluctant to look inside. How many student papers had he read in these twelve years? How many strokes of his red pen had he made? How many times had he underlined it’s and written its. Was there ever a student who didn’t make a mischievous younger brother the subject of an essay? Was there ever a student who didn’t make four syllables out of “mischievous”? This was the twelfth in a series of senior classes that Miles was trying to raise to an acceptable level of English usage, and like the previous eleven, this class would graduate in the spring to make room for another class in the fall, and he would read the same errors over again. This annual renewal of ignorance, together with the sad fact that most of his students had been drilled in what he taught since they were in the fifth grade, left him with a vague sense of futility that made it hard for him to read student writing. But while he had lost his urge to read student papers, he had not lost his guilt about not reading them, so he carried around with him, like a conscience...”
― Jon Hassler, Staggerford

“The reason Agatha had never married was that when she was young and had the opportunities she hadn’t felt the need, and later, feeling the need, she had no opportunities.”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“She wrote Dear James. She went on to say nothing directly about his friendliness or her loneliness. If she replied with the whole truth - why wouldn't she feel lonely at times? - he might be encouraged to do more probing and destroy one of the qualities she most enjoyed about this correspondence: giving or withholding at will. Wasn't that the great advantage of living one's life alone, the control?”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“Was it wise of me at all to have confined my career to one small classroom in one small town? Wouldn't I be coming away from my life's work with a higher heart if I hadn't been washing the same blackboard for forty-six years?”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“She’d never known a book lover to grow up to cause trouble.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James

“Let the Church work out its own destiny, Miss McGee. Love it, be faithful, but don't let yourself be thrown off balance at every twist and turn”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“You could go along for years thinking you knew a person’s story and then come upon a chapter that knocked your socks off.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James

“Silent they sat, James aware of her agitation but puzzled as to the cause, Agatha aware of his puzzlement but not trusting her voice to put him at ease. She was trying to control a strange commotion in her breast, a kind of flutter or tremor caused by his invitation to Ireland.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James

“Well, anything up to half an hour late is considered on time, but anything before the appointed time—even a single minute—is downright gouchy.” “Downright what?” “Downright gouchy.” “Downright what?” said her mother, pausing in her knitting. “Gouchy,” said Imogene, clearly irritated. “You mean gauche,” said Miles. “It’s pronounced gosh, with a long O.” “I mean gouchy, Pruitt. It means crude.” “My, my, you ack-comedians,” said her mother. “What did you call us?” said Imogene. “Ack-comedians. It means scholars.” “You’re pronouncing it wrong,” said Imogene. “You mean academicians.” “Academicians? I always thought it was ack-comedians. Who’s right, Miles?” “I love ack-comedians,” said Miles. “If it means scholars it’s perfect.”
― Jon Hassler, Staggerford: A Novel

“Waaal, there's some would call it a bush, I suppose, but I call it a tree. If I'm ever in doubt about how much credit to give a thing, I always give it more, to be on the safe side.”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“Three days in Prince Charming’s company and Agatha softened into the woman she'd been in Assisi. More smiles. Fewer frowns. Not so quick to criticize. She paused in her opinions to consider how they’d strike James. She paused in her eating to cast admiring glances his way. And now there she sat with a rare look of contentment on her face, her smile beaming up at James in the pulpit. Never in his life had Father Finn witnessed so clearly the transforming power of love.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James

“Their silhouettes lingered in her mind. So did the sound of their kisses. She rose and went to the window and looked out over the busy playground. Children running, pulling, sliding, calling, spinning. If you traced all these children back to their beginnings, you came to kisses.”
― Jon Hassler, A Green Journey

“The spire above the empty belfry was bent; it leaned, like the leaning jackpines all around it, with the prevailing northwest wind.”
― Jon Hassler

“Her past seems a span of innocuous days. And her nights? Her most dramatic recurring dream in recent nights was one in which she had difficulty opening a jar of peanut butter.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James

“One can't quit working to better the world just because the world is old and set in its ways. The enormity of a job is no reason not to do the job.”
― Jon Hassler, Dear James