Mary > Mary's Quotes

“I think the only way to get through this life is laughing hard and constantly, mostly at myself.”
― Shannon Hale

“Whatever comes," she said, "cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess

“Two things cannot be in one place. Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“Everything's a story - You are a story -I am a story.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess

“She made herself stronger by fighting with the wind.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

“Where you tend a rose my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”
― Francis Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Juvenile Fiction, Classics, Family

“Hang in there. It is astonishing how short a time it can take for very wonderful things to happen.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett

“I don't like it, papa," she said. "But then I dare say soldiers - even brave ones - don't really like going into battle.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess

“Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.”
― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“What's thought cannot be unthought.”
― L. M. Boston

“A library is infinity under a roof.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“Step follows step,
Hope follows Courage,
Set your face towards danger,
Set your heart on victory.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“I was born singing. Most babies cry, I sang an aria.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“Things change, people change, but that doesn't mean you should forget the past.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“In books and in life, you need to read several pages before someone's true character is revealed.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“Crying is part of the adventure”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“... If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it.”
― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl

“Personally, I believe “Young Adult” to be an arbitrary title that means the book "Can be enjoyed by anyone/Has a main character who’s not quite an adult/Isn’t really boring.”
― Shannon Hale

“Writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
― Shannon Hale

“Really, becoming a writer sounds more like a mental illness than a professional choice.”
― Shannon Hale

“What are you doing?"
"Ya!" said Jane, whirling around, her hands held up menacingly.
It was Mr. Nobley with coat, hat, and cane, watching her with wide eyes. Jane took several quick (but oh so casual) steps away from Martin's window.
"Um, did I just say, 'Ya'?"
"You just said 'Ya,'" he confirmed. "If I am not mistaken, it was a battle cry, warning that you were about to attack me.
I, uh..." She stopped to laugh. "I wasn't aware until this precise and awkward moment that when startled in a startled in a strange place, my instincts would have me pretend to be a ninja.”
― Shannon Hale, Austenland

“What she had long believed was not true, and now the world was wide open to discover what was.
It is like all my life I thought the sky was green.”
― Shannon Hale

“I cannot write to anyone outside myself--if I tried, it would be a horrible story, flat and lifeless. I write to myself. That's the only person I'm trying to please.”
― Shannon Hale

“Razo hopped back up and adopted a posture that said he was completely unruffled, never had been, and in fact was ready to do something manly like lift boulders or swallow live worms.”
― Shannon Hale, River Secrets

“Truth is when your mind and your gut agree.”
― Shannon Hale, Princess Academy

“It was a pleasure, Enna, Finn, tree rat."
"Did she just call you tree rat?”
― Shannon Hale, River Secrets

“Just like the old adage--what you dislike most in other people is what you dislike the most in yourself--”
― Shannon Hale

“My ma says a rock lasts forever, but people don’t, and that’s what makes them more precious.”
― Shannon Hale, Palace of Stone