Nova Scotia Quotes

“The town of Lunenburg was built on a hill running down to a sheltered harbour. On one of the upper streets stands a Presbyterian church with a huge gilded cod on its weather vane. Along the waterfront, the wooden-shingled houses are brick red, a color that originally came from mixing clay with cod-liver oil to protect the wood against the salt of the waterfront. It is the look of Nova Scotia - brick red wood, dark green pine, charcoal sea.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

“Sing a song of Tar Ponds City, party full of lies! Four and twenty liars, seventeen hands caught in pies! When the pie was cut, Hugh Briss began to sing! Wasn't that a stonewall rat to set before the Fossil's ding?”
― Beatrice Rose Roberts, Twin Loyalties: From The Chronicles Of Tar Ponds City

“When the north wind blew across the tar ponds, voices were carried away.”
― Jonathan Campbell

“In this part of Canada, it was assumed that the passengers would provide each other with entertainment.”
― Beatrice Rose Roberts, Twin Loyalties: From The Chronicles Of Tar Ponds City

“Well, we're originally from Glace Bay."

Grandma Elsie's eyes glittered. She was looking at one of her own, a lost Cape Bretoner in need of help and offering a new story. "Tell me all about it, dear.”
― Beatrice Rose Roberts, Twin Loyalties: From The Chronicles Of Tar Ponds City

“At her words, words of forgiveness from Rose, an honest and just woman, something broke inside of Wince. His tears began to flow. Age seemed to drift from his face like misty ghosts from a morning field. Katie lifted his chin and, holding back her own tears, looked into his eyes. "Thank you, Wince."

Eve placed her free hand on his shoulder. "May we hold her now?"

Wince nodded and gently released the baby into the waiting arms of her sisters.

"You did the right thing, Wince." Rose gave Wince a hug. "And you can help us bury her after Wilson and the Tar Ponds City Police see if they can find anybody to lay charges against after all this time.”
― Beatrice Rose Roberts, Twin Loyalties: From The Chronicles Of Tar Ponds City

“I pulled the sheet off their faces. Their faces were black with coal dust and didn't look like anything was wrong with them except they were dirty. The both of them had smiles on their faces. I thought maybe one of them had told a joke just before they died and, pain and all, they both laughed and ended up with a smile. Probably not true but but it made me feel good to think about it like that, and when the Sister came in I asked her if I could clean their faces and she said, "no, certainly not!" but I said, "ah, c'mon, it's me brother n' father, I want to," and she looked at me and looked at me, and at last she said, "of course, of course, I'll get some soap and water."

When the nun came back she helped me. Not doing it, but more like showing me how, and taking to me, saying things like "this is a very handsome man" and "you must have been proud of your brother" when I told her how Charlie Dave would fight for me, and "you're lucky you have another brother"; of course I was, but he was younger and might change, but she talked to me and made it all seem normal, the two of us standing over a dead face and cleaning the grit away. The only other thing I remember a nun ever saying to me was, "Mairead, you get to your seat, this minute!”
― Sheldon Currie, The Glace Bay Miners' Museum: The novel

“Jeeter?" Grace whispered into her walkie-talkie. "Are you awake?" She waited.

A few weeks ago, she and Jeeter had started chatting on their walkie-talkies late at night when she couldn't sleep. He always answered her call no matter how late it was.

"I'm here," his voice echoed back. "Trouble sleeping again?"

"Yeah."

"Another bad dream?"

"Uh-huh," she sniffed, unexpected tears flooding her eyes. My dad was calling for me, but I couldn't find him." She couldn't believe she'd said it. She'd never told anyone what she saw in her dreams. But Jeeter understood. He'd told her before that he had bad dreams too, since his mom had died.”
― Jo Ann Yhard, Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines

“Buiten is het maandag. Dat zegt de stem van de Canadese radio-omroeper vanuit de schemerige woonkamer. Sleet, later overgaand in echte regen. Heel Nova Scotia opnieuw onder een witte deken.
'Weest u vooral voorzichtig op de weg.”
― J. Bernlef, Buiten is het maandag

“Here were the results of a city underprepared for wartime growth, a city caught napping, while it quickly became one of the most crucial ports in North America as the Allies fought the Germans.”
― Aren A. Morris, We Happy Few

“No one seemed to be around - which does not necessarily mean it was late, since it has long been my experience that no matter where you roam in the province of Nova Scotia it is usually mostly empty.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“Everything in Nova Scotia is touched by the sea, which finds its way into our food and drink, the way our skin feels, how we talk and smell, the roll of our gait and even how we look at the world.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“The air was soft as I walked along Water Street past a lobster pound, a herring processor and a former cotton mill. Here was a terminal where the on-again, off-again ferry that ran between Yarmouth and Maine docked. There was a memorial to the 2,500 residents of Yarmouth known to have died at sea. Things grew quieter the farther along Water Street I went.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“We were still fighting to hold on to what we had, whether language (Gaelic) or culture (Acadian), the transfer payments from Ottawa which accounted for a disproportionate percentage of provincial revenues, or the sweet rural life, which more Nova Scotians enjoyed than anywhere else in Canada.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“I used to literally dream of Nova Scotia, its mouldering sea-stink and incessant damp, its buildings hunched like a linebacker's shoulders against the elements, its people with their mishmash of enterprise, humanity, and grit.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“Geoffrey Learmonth strives to invest in his physical and mental well-being every day. The time he sets aside for his family is one he wants to expand on the most. He believes this is the best way to further his goal of running his own investment consulting business in the future. With a unique skill set of understanding and helping people reach their lifelong financial goals, Geoffrey is confident in his future aspirations.”
― Geoffrey Learmonth Halifax NS

“There's something about someone knowing where you're from, I guess. Someone who knows what you mean when you say "the Valley," pronounces Bay of Fundy correctly and knows that Musquodoboit is a place and not just a bunch of letters thrown together haphazard-like.”
― Amanda Peters

“I just raped a 15 year old”
― HallowGenic

“Sometimes, you gotta test your ngas gyat before you can achieve the 10/10”
― HallowGenic

“God Canadians are polite, and Nova Scotians may be the politest of them all.”
― Donalee Moulton, Hung Out to Die

“Donairs are a Halifax specialty. Some residents contend this is Nova Scotia’s official food. Aficionados spend a great deal of time discussing the nuances of the dish, thin slices of spiced beef on a warm pita, sprinkled with diced onion and tomato, and swimming in a sweet, garlicky sauce. Or so I’ve been told.”
― Donalee Moulton, Hung Out to Die

“The final course of the meal is blueberry grunt, a traditional Nova Scotia dessert that faintly resembles a cobbler, but gets prepared on the stovetop.
“It’s said,” Raynes tells us as we dive in, “that you can hear the blueberries grunt as the steam rises from the biscuits.”
“I don’t know about the blueberries, but I can hear my husband grunting with delight.”
― Donalee Moulton, Hung Out to Die

“For a while, it had seemed that Rankin’s, like many family-owned stores in rural Nova Scotia, was doomed to be swept away by the Walmarts and progress. But then we noticed how people from away valued our traditional handcrafts. That led me to set up a retail space in the store’s underused upstairs. We call it Gasper’s Cove Crafters: A Community Co-op, a place where anyone in the community who made things (which described most of us) could sell on consignment.”
― Barbara Emodi, Crafting an Alibi

“I went over to the pantry and found a box of Morse’s Tea, the official consolation beverage of Nova Scotia since 1870. I picked up the kettle and filled it at the deep, stainless-steel, industrial-sized sink. While I waited for the water to boil, I found a tin of shortbread and put enough for four people onto a plate. Emotional breakdowns are no time to be skimpy with baked goods.”
― Barbara Emodi, Crafting a Cold Case

“Some of us are made to have our palates cleansed. And others of us are born to wipe donair sauce from our chins.”
― Barbara Emodi, Crafting a Cold Case