Villette

“So seek beauty, Miss Prim. Seek it in silence, in tranquillity; seek it in the middle of the night and at dawn. Pause to close doors while you seek it, and don't be surprised if it doesn't reside in museums or in palaces. Don't be surprised if, in the end, you find beauty to be not in Something but Someone.”
― Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera, The Awakening of Miss Prim

“As novices, Carthusians are taught to turn around and close doors without pushing them or letting them swing shut. Do you know why?
Miss Prim replied that she had no idea.
So that they learn not to rush, to do one thing after another. So as to train them in restraint, patience, silence, and mindfulness in every gesture.”
― Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera, The Awakening of Miss Prim

“[She] had the indefinable charm of someone who said little but thought much. Miss Prim had always felt that such people were at a marked advantage. They never said anything tactless, never spouted nonsense, never had cause to regret their words or justify themselves.”
― Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera, The Awakening of Miss Prim

“...if you were convinced that the world had forgotten how to think and teach, if you believed it had discarded the beauty of art and literature, if you thought it had crushed the power of truth, would you let that world educate your children?”
― Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera