Melanie Smith

“I learned to write nice as hell. Birds an' stuff like that, too; not just word writin'. My ol' man'll be sore when he sees me whip out a bird in one stroke. Pa's gonna be mad when he sees me do that. He don't like no fancy stuff like that. He don't even like word writin'. Kinda scare 'im, I guess. Ever' time Pa seen writin', somebody took somepin away from 'im.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

“I believe there is a theory that men and women emerge finer and stronger after suffering, and that to advance in this or any world we must endure ordeal by fire.”
― Daphne DuMaurier, Rebecca

“Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”
― Winston Churchill