| "I think an old, deserted house is such a sad sight," said Anne dreamily. "It always seems to me to be thinking about its past and mourning for its old-time joys. Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; and now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it but the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel! Perhaps they all come back on moonlit nights. . .the ghosts of the little children of long ago and the roses and the songs. . .and for a little while the old house can dream it is young and joyous again." - Anne of Avonlea |
| "What a nice month this November has been!" said Anne, who had never quite got over her childish habit of talking to herself. "November is usually such a disagreeable month. . .as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully. . just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles." - Anne of Avonlea |
| It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very, very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself, hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside � but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond � only a glimpse � and heard a note of unearthly music. - Emily of New Moon |
| ��And we were so happy � oh, Emilykin, there never were two happier people in the world. You were the child of that happiness. I remember the night you were born in the little house in Charlottetown. It was in May and a west wind was blowing silvery clouds over the moon. There was a star or two here and there. In out tiny garden � everything we had was small except our love and our happiness � it was dark and blossomy. I walked up and down the path between the beds of violets your mother had planted � and prayed. The pale east was just beginning to glow like a rosy pearl when someone came and told me I had a little daughter. I went in, and your mother, white and weak, smiled that dear, slow, wonderful smile I loved, and said, �We�ve � got � the �only � baby � of any importance � in the world, dear. Just � think � of that!�� - Emily of New Moon |
| �You mustn�t be afraid of anything, Emily. Death isn�t terrible. The universe is full of love � and spring comes everywhere � and in death you open and shut a door. There are beautiful things on the other side of the door. I�ll find your mother there � I�ve doubted many things, but I�ve never doubted that. Sometimes I�ve been afraid that she would get so far ahead of me in the ways of eternity that I�d never catch up. But I feel now that she�s waiting for me. And we�ll wait for you � we won�t hurry � we�ll loiter and linger till you catch up with us.� - Emily of New Moon |
| "Could anything be more ridiculous than to be caught here with Teddy, by his mother, at two o� clock at night � what was that horrid word she had lately heard for the first time? � oh, yes, spooning � that was it � spooning on George Horton�s eighty-year-old tombstone?� - Emily Climbs |
| �I�ve kind of contracted a habit of enjoying things,� he remarked once, when Mother had commented on his invariable cheerfulness. �It�s got so chronic that I believe I even enjoy the disagreeable things. It�s great fun thinking they can�t last.� - Along the Shore |
| �Is not some other life possible if your present life does not content you?� he said gently. - Along the Shore |
| What mattered what any reviewer said when Aunt Elizabeth remarked with an air of uttering the final judgment: �Well, I never could have believed that a pack of lies could sound as much like the real truth as that book does.� - Emily's Quest |
| ��And I must always have a cat about. A house isn�t a home without the ineffable contentment of a cat with its tail folded about its feet�� - Emily's Quest |
| Aunt Elizabeth said she wanted me to weed the onion bed. So I had to lay down my pen and go out to the kitchen garden. But one can weed onions and think wonderful things at the same time, glory be. It is one of the blessings that we don�t always have to put our souls into what our hands may be doing, praise the gods � for otherwise who would have any soul left? So I weeded the onion bed and roamed the Milky Way in imagination. - Emily's Quest |
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| It was three o� clock in the morning � the wisest and most accursed hour of the clock. But sometimes it sets us free. - The Blue Castle |
| �Drop in whenever you like,� Gertrude had said to me. �You�ll always find a chair by the fire and a cat on the rug.� - After Many Days |
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| "Live under your own hat. Don't be led away by these howls about realism. Remember pine woods are as real as pig-sties, and a darn sight pleasanter." - Emily Climbs |