Karen Cushman Quotes

Corpus bones, I thought. To be wedded to this perfumed prig with his mouth in a knot and a frown always on his face!

Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.

She must not look too proud nor yet too humble, lest people say she is proud of her humility."

Excerpt From: "Catherine, Called Birdy.

Just because you don't know everything don't mean you know nothing.

Love brightens and purifies the heart.

She dreamed of nothing, for she hoped for nothing and expected nothing. It was as cold and dark inside her as out in the frosty night.

My mother makes the best cider in Lincolnshire. She swears it is because she always includes a number of rotten apples in the mix. I was wondering if this could be true of people - if the world needs a few rotten people to make the sweetest mix. This would explain the problem of God allowing evil in the world.

I know what I want. A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

I think sometimes that people are like onions. On the outside smooth and whole and simple but inside ring upon ring, complex and deep.

[in the context of 1881] "Don't you want to get married and have babies? Mrs. Bergman used to say that women need-" "What women need is more exercise, shorter skirts, and their own way once in a while.

Seems to me home is where I am loved and safe and needed.

It's important to know what you think, my dear, or else you will be so hemmed in by other people's ideas and opinions, you won't have room for your own.

Fathers should make you feel safe.

Seems to me God made a big mistake when He failed to put handles on watermelons.

I want to remake the whole world; anything less is not worth the trouble.

Just as a river by night shines with the reflected light of the moon, so too do you shine with the light of your family, your people, and your God. So you are never far from home, never alone, wherever you go.

She was not as stupid as some I have had, and better company, but still perhaps her going was for the best. She was not what I needed."
"Because I failed," whispered Alyce in the shadows.
"Because she gave up," continued the midwife. "I need an apprentice who can do what I tell her, take what I give her, who can try and risk and fail and try again and not give up ...

I watched the early morning light pass over and through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of red and green and yellow on the stone floor. When I was little, I used to try and capture the colored light. I thought I could hold it in my hand and carry it home. Now I know it is like happiness
it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it or keep it.

Minds, like diapers, need occasional changing.