Sometimes Not Quotes

You will face hard times in life. Sometimes they are supposed to come, sometimes not. Get through them no matter what, 'cause the good life is always on the other side. ~ F.C.

Because Microsoft seems to sometimes not trust customer choice, they salt XP with all these little gizmos and trap doors to get people to try Microsoft stuff. But the reality is that we're downloading more players than we ever have on a worldwide basis. ~ Rob Glaser

Sometimes I can be tactful and sometimes not. It all depends on the mood I'm in. ~ Melanie Brown

Are there things about yourself which you have never told anyone? Way back upon the creaky floors of your childhood, in your solitude, the shadows of your private mind, the things you've done and said and thought that compound and contain you: shameful things, sexual things, often solitary acts, but sometimes not, sometimes agonizing stabs of cruelty you've inflicted on people you love, or the moments where reality itself seemed to tear as they looked into your eyes and told you 'you are nothing'. And for a moment you stand there adjusting to the pain, the pain that someone could say that to you, and what that must mean about who you are. ~ Russell Brand

The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people's hands, nothing we say now that could not be said in the endless array of movements possible with the fine bones of the fingers and wrists. The gestures were complex and subtle, involving a delicacy of motion that has since been lost completely.

During the Age of Silence, people communicated more, not less. Basic survival demanded that the hands were almost never still, and so it was only during sleep (and sometimes not even then) that people were not saying something or other. No distinction was made between the gestures of language and the gestures of life. The labor of building a house, say, or preparing a meal was no less an expression than making the sign for I love you or I feel serious. When a hand was used to shield one's face when frightened by a loud noise something was being said, and when fingers were used to pick up what someone else had dropped something was being said; and even when the hands were at rest, that, too, was saying something. Naturally, there were misunderstandings. There were times when a finger might have been lifted to scratch a nose, and if casual eye contact was made with one's lover just then, the lover might accidentally take it to be the gesture, not at all dissimilar, for Now I realize I was wrong to love you. These mistakes were heartbreaking. And yet, because people knew how easily they could happen, because th ~ Nicole Krauss

Advantage! What is advantage? And will you take it upon yourself to define with perfect accuracy in what the advantage of man consists? And what if it so happens that a man's advantage, SOMETIMES, not only may, but even must, consist in his desiring in certain cases what is harmful to himself and not advantageous. And if so, if there can be such a case, the whole principle falls into dust. What do you think
are there such cases? ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

To some extent, at least, you have to shield children from what you know and drip-feed information to them. Sometimes that is kindly meant, and sometimes not. ~ Kazuo Ishiguro

My story is not about condemning white people but about rejecting the assumption - sometimes spoken, sometimes not - that white is right: closer to God, holy, chosen, the epitome of being. ~ Austin Channing Brown

A realization that the founding principle of existence is what we call love, which works itself out sometimes not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless ineluctably. ~ Yann Martel

I do like to work with young directors because it's such a difficult business that I think after directors have been around a while sometimes, not always, but sometimes their passion gets siphoned off because they get hurt. ~ Ellen Burstyn

Sometimes silences are pregnant and sometimes not. It is hard to know what to make of the silence of much of the New Testament about the Lord's Supper. Perhaps it is simply an accident of time and circumstance. There was not a felt need to address the matter. What we should not likely conclude is that it was not seen as an important matter in the latter part of the first century A.D. What we can observe is that the Lord's Supper continued to be an in-home ceremony taken in the context of a fellowship meal. We also now know it was important in both Gentile and Jewish contexts in the church in the second half of the first century, and beyond. We see no evidence anywhere in this material that clerics of any kind are in charge of the meal and its distribution. Even in the Didache, prophets, who were mouthpieces for God, are only allowed to say the thanksgiving prayer as often as they like. The low ecclesiology, coupled with the ever-present eschatology, suggest that the Didache does indeed go back to the end of the first century A.D. But one precedent in the Didache does stand out: the Lord's Supper is for baptized Christians, and in particular for those who repent of their sins. We are on the way to the church of the Middle Ages in some respects, but we have not begun to localize or confine grace to the elements of the Lord's Supper itself and then have it controlled by clerics. ~ Ben Witherington III

I have the advantage of being pretty small, so if I'm flying myself, I'm flying coach. To save the money. I just put in my headphones, and it's no big thing. I keep my head down, wear a hoodie or a hat - but sometimes not even that. I'm small. People miss me. ~ Anna Kendrick

Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world. ~ Colleen Hoover

Okay, Lucy, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.
"Us."
"There is no us," Val reminded her firmly - although he had gotten misty just a moment before while holding her hand. She had given him both the best years of his
life and the worst.
"There used to be an us," she suggested, "which was a good us, a great us. Now there isn't an us, but that doesn't mean there can't be an us again. And a great us, not just a
good us, because without us, I do okay and sometimes not even okay."
Val's eyebrows wrinkled and he stared hard at her.
"That didn't come out quite like I imagined," Lucy said. Romantic it certainly wasn't.
"I meant to say, I'd like us to have a second chance. ~ Minda Webber

Because sometimes not liking someone is easier. ~ Ally Carter

It's kind of not fair for us to feel guilty for getting what we deserve. We work hard....I know so many people who work hard but still don't get the things they deserve, sometimes not even the things they need. ~ Renée Watson

Sometimes luck is with you, and sometimes not, but the important thing is to take the dare. Those who climb mountains or raft rivers understand this. ~ David R. Brower

Should I give money to homeless folks or beggars? Jesus said to give to everyone who asks. That's a tough command. Sometimes we wonder what Jesus would do in the Calcutta slums or in our heroin-haunted streets, where folks ask for change on every corner. What we can say with confidence is that Jesus would not ignore them. "Give to everyone who asks" means "do not ignore people." We can always give dignity, attention, time, a listening ear. Sometimes we give money, sometimes not. But we can always give love. Ironically, giving money can be a cheap way to love someone. Many folks give money because they don't want to have an interaction; they just want to get someone off their back. There are times when giving money can even be a way to avoid the responsibility that a real relationship might demand. So I want to suggest, sure, give money, but give more than money . . . give yourself. ~ Shane Claiborne

I think women have long been defined by their roles as procreators and wives, and we're expected to serve, take care of, say 'Yes,' and not ruffle any feathers. Women, in particular, are sometimes not allowed to consider who they are outside of the roles that they play. ~ Carrie Coon

I didn't look back. Sometimes, not looking back is the only mercy the world has left to show. ~ Seanan McGuire

She had a collection of matchbooks from extravagant places, dropped here and there on tables in the dingy apartment she still shared with Gregg. They made it look as if she lived a gay, mad life. What a typical picture for anyone from out of New York: career girl's apartment, stockings drying over the shower rod, clothes flung helter-skelter in the rush to get to the office on time, to a date on time, a bottle of wine there too, wads of dust lying under the studio couch because you couldn't clean except weekends and sometimes not even then, and all those brightly colored matchbooks with names of well-known eating places, so that even if one managed only two good and sufficient meals a week one could still light one's cigarettes for the rest of the week with the memory. ~ Rona Jaffe

I love feeling loved. I don't love knowing that I will always come in second place. I love the fact that at least sometimes when I am in my home, I'm not alone.I don't love the fact that it's not always. I love not having to answer to him. I don't love that he doesn't answer to me.I love the way I feel when I am with him. I don't love the way I feel when I'm not ~ Jodi Picoult

It is simply an invariable truth in the history of politics, in the history of government, that whenever a new power is acquired in the name of some threat, it always - not sometimes, not often, not usually -it always extends beyond its original application, beyond its original justification. ~ Glenn Greenwald

When we try to love we are not actually trying to undertake a single endeavor; rather, we are trying to do a whole range of different, and sometimes not very compatible, things simultaneously. ~ John Armstrong

It was my kind of song: fast and fun and exuberant,the lyrics tumbling out almost faster than my ears could follow them,some times rhyming,sometimes not ... ~ Anthony Rapp

Life is learning how to deal with traffic. It requires patience, a good sense of timing, and sometimes not giving in to the traffic but reshaping your life. ~ Frederick Lenz

Sometimes not looking for something is the best way to look for it ~ Himanshu Chhabra

The winger resembles Mother Brown, running with a high knee-lift and sometimes not progressing far from the spot where he started. ~ Simon Geoghegan

In my late thirties the dream of disappointment and exhaustion had been the dream of the exploding head: the dream of a noise in my head so loud and long that I felt with the brain that survived that the brain could not survive; that this was death. Now, in my early fifties, after my illness, after I had left the manor cottage and put an end to that section of my life, I began to be awakened by thoughts of death, the end of things; and sometimes not even by thoughts so specific, not even by fear rational or fantastic, but by a great melancholy. This melancholy penetrated my mind while I slept; and then, when I awakened in response to its prompting, I was so poisoned by it, made so much not a doer (as men must be, every day of their lives), that it took the best part of the day to shake it off. And that wasted or dark day added to the gloom preparing for the night. ~ V.S. Naipaul

America was founded on Christians not trusting each other, and they sometimes seemed more willing to reach out to the godless than to someone from another sect. ~ Penn Jillette

I love to cook when I have the time. I don't cook French or Mexican food with exact recipes. I just go to the supermarket and buy things that look good, and I mix it all together and invent something. Ninety-five percent of the time, I'm lucky. Sometimes not so lucky, and I say, 'Let's go out to dinner.' ~ Salma Hayek

I have exes I'm friends with and exes I'm not friends with. It depends on what you decide together. I do think that sometimes trying to maintain that bond can be healthier than walking away. ~ Tyler Blackburn

Blue bead on the wick,
there's that in me that
burns and chills, blackening
my heart with its soot,
I think sometimes not Apollo heard me
but a different god. ~ Denise Levertov

Yet experience has taught me that fate is sometimes cruel and that even a boatload of hope is sometimes not enough. ~ Nicholas Sparks

Sometimes not being in control, not being able to think, just losing yourself in the moment, is the greatest feeling in the world. It's liberating. It's addicting. It's the most powerful high you'll ever get. It's a kind of freedom that tastes so sweet on your palate that you can't help but want more each time you have it. ~ Mia Asher

Maybe iT Goes Sometimes not so fast in nature, but it show us every time again that it never will give up and how powerful it is. ~ Jan Jansen

I had, I'll admit, effected a certain style - a method, if you will - of cupcake eating. To begin, you remove the cupcake liner carefully so as not to unnecessarily crumble the cake, and set it aside. You then turn the cupcake slowly in your hand, taking bites along the line where cake meets icing, your mouth filling with a perfect combination of both components. Once you've come full circle, you gently twist off the bottom half inch of cake, a move that takes considerable finesse and leaves a delicate sliver of cake - the ideal size for lying flat on your tongue and allowing it to slowly dissolve, building anticipation for that final bite. To finish, you are left with the center cylinder of cake and icing, the cupcake's very heart, sometimes filled with a surprising burst of custard or jam or mousse, sometimes not, but always, always, the most moist, flavorful bite of the entire cupcake. Take a breath before diving into that final, perfect bite; it is to be savored for as long as possible. Finally, of course, you scavenge the crumbs from the cupcake liner you set aside during step one, then ball the liner into your fist and overhand it into the nearest receptacle. Make the shot? You get another cupcake. ~ Meg Donohue

Sometimes not knowing helps you to get along with your life better than how much knowing must have. ~ Eliza

Sometimes you're not sure about a player. Sometimes you doubt. Sometimes you have to guess. Sometimes ... you just know. ~ Alex Ferguson

The open road is gone. The spontaneous stops and sometimes not knowing where we are but not giving a damn, is gone. ~ J.A. Redmerski

You know that I love you quite a lot --
But sometimes... not. Sometimes not.
I don't know why.
I guess I
Just hate you sometimes,
Because sometimes I even hate myself,
And she loves you. ~ Margo T. Rose

Kendra stared out the side window of the SUV, watching foliage blur past. When the flurry of motion became too much, she looked up ahead and fixed her gaze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and then gradually receded behind her. Was life like that? You could look ahead to the future or back at the past, but the present moved too quickly to absorb. Maybe sometimes. Not today. Today they were driving along an endless two-lane highway through the forested hills of Connecticut. ~ Brandon Mull

Give yourself a break. Stop beating yourself up! Everyone makes mistakes, has setbacks and failures. You don't come with a book on how to get it right all the time. You will fail sometimes, not because you planned to, but simply because you're human. Failure is a part of creating a great life. Stand up to it and handle it with grace. Because, you can. ~ Les Brown

- How did there get to be 'sides'? You said the guards were on our 'side'. How did that happen? How did I end up on a 'side'? - I can't really explain. Things just happen. Over time, they accumulate. Bad attracts bad. Good attracts good. Eventually there are sides. The members flux, sometimes the boundaries are gray. Good and bad are sometimes not the point. It happens. ~ Patrick Ness

I have lived in Toledo, Ohio, off and on throughout my entire life, and I have plenty of friends who are union members. Sometimes we agree politically and sometimes not, but it has never kept us from being friends. ~ Joe Wurzelbacher

Though he would sometimes not touch a book for a week, he generally spent part of each day in reading ... if he sat in the library an hour, he would have half a dozen volumes around him, on the table, on chairs and on the floor. He seemed to read a few pages here and a few pages there, and pass from place to place, from volume to volume ... sometimes (though very rarely) he would get sufficiently interested in a volume to read it all. ~ Walt Whitman

When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn't laugh at it, it wouldn't be the Way. ~ Laozi

A Tornado knocks a house down, killing the owner, and it's a tragedy. Then you learn a serial killer lived there and the same act becomes a miracle. The truth about what happens to us in this world keeps changing. Always. It never stops. Sometimes not even after death. ~ Marisha Pessl

I grew up with nothing - I remember sometimes not having shoes. ~ Kesha

Yeah, I do feel badly sometimes, not for whose coming up and getting roles I'm not right for anymore but the people I compete with, who range from Uma Thurman on up. ~ Kelly Lynch

Sorry, sweetheart," he murmurs, "you're going to learn that sometimes, not being in control is extremely liberating. ~ K. Bromberg

Behind every flinch is a fear or an anxiety - sometimes rational, sometimes not. Without the fear, there is no flinch. But wiping out the fear isn't what's important - facing it is. ~ Julien Smith

Anything you do from the heart enriches you, but sometimes not till years later. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

Meditation is a mysterious method of self-restoration.
It involves "shutting" out the outside world, and by that means sensing the universal "presence" which is, incidentally, absolute perfect peace.
It is basically an existential "time-out" - a way to "come up for a breath of air" out of the noisy clutter of the world.
But don't be afraid, there is nothing arcane or supernatural or creepy about the notion of taking a time-out. Ball players do it. Kids do it, when prompted by their parents. Heck, even your computer does it (and sometimes not when you want it to).
So, why not you?
A meditation can be as simple as taking a series of easy breaths, and slowly, gently counting to ten in your mind. ~ Vera Nazarian

A lot can happen in a day, sometimes. Not every day, of course. Most have one event, and that's if you're lucky. ~ Richard Kramer

Readers like SapphicDerrida, who reeled off statistics and used words like "reify" in their comments, made Ifemelu nervous, eager to be fresh and to impress, so that she began, over time, to feel like a vulture hacking into the carcasses of people's stories for something she could use. Sometimes making fragile links to race. Sometimes not believing herself. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My biggest problem about writing is whenever I write piano pieces, because I then have to learn to play them, which is sometimes not so easy. ~ Philip Glass

Good stewardship of the environment is not just a personal responsibility, it is a public value ... Our duty is to use the land well, and sometimes not to use it at all. This is our responsibility as citizens, but more than that, it is our calling as stewards of the earth. ~ George W. Bush

What is living about? It is the decisions you must make between two rights, hard and costly decisions because always you can do one right thing, but sometimes not two. ~ Willa Gibbs

I will tell you why I became a philosopher. I became a philosopher because I wanted to be able to talk about many, many things, ideally with knowledge, but sometimes not quite the amount of knowledge that I would need if I were to be a specialist in them. It allows you to be many different things. And plurality and complexity are very, very important to me. ~ Alexander Nehamas

I am not afraid to stop the puck with my head. I try to do it sometimes even in practice; not everyday but once in a while, I say to my teammates, shoot me in my head and I'll try to stop the puck. I am not afraid at all of the puck, so sometimes, if the shot comes at my head, it's an easier save to make with your head. Maybe the people think a different way, but for me, I do it with my head. ~ Dominik Hasek

Strong personality traits can sometimes give you a huge competitive advantage over other people - they can help you achieve things others don't. However, the trick is moderating these personality traits so that they don't dominate your nature. For example, being extremely persistent - which anxious, high achievers often are - can have a huge upside. However, if you're very persistent but can't moderate it, it can be difficult to take a break in situations in which you need one. You might find it hard to step away when you're stuck on a task and not getting anywhere or when you're involved in an argument that's going nowhere and only getting more heated. The more extreme a trait is, the more likely it is to be a double-edged sword - sometimes useful and sometimes not. ~ Alice Boyes

The thing I loved about Alfred Hitchcock is that he left a lot of open ends there, a lot of clues that didn't really add up the way you think they would, and sometimes, not at all. ~ Kim Novak

During the Age of Silence, people communicated more, not less. Basic survival demanded that the hands were almost never still, and so it was only during sleep (and sometimes not even then) that people were not saying something or other. ~ Nicole Krauss

If I decide to make a career in the army, he said, I would never be rich, but I would live one of the most satisfying lives there was to be had. Then
he warned me that satisfaction would come at a great cost to me and any family I might have. I should never expected to be thanked; a soldier, if he was going to be content, had to understand that no civilian, no government,
sometimes not even the army itself, would recognize the true nature of the scarifies he made. ~ Romeo Dallaire

Children, of course, don't understand at first that they are being cheated. They come to school with a degree of faith and optimism, and they often seem to thrive during the first few years. It is sometimes not until the third grade that their teachers start to see the warning signs of failure. By the fourth grade many children see it too. ~ Jonathan Kozol

I think only one man in three is a warrior, and sometimes not even that many, but in our army, Uhtred, every man is a fighter. If you do not want to be a warrior you stay home in Denmark. You till the soil, herd sheep, fish the sea, but you do not take to the ships and become a fighter. But here in England? Every man is forced to the fight, yet only one in three or maybe only one in four has the belly for it. The rest are farmers who just want to run. We are wolves fighting sheep. ~ Bernard Cornwell

Sometimes we can offer a cure, sometimes only a salve, sometimes not even that. But whatever we can offer, our interventions, and the risks and sacrifices they entail, are justified only if they serve the larger aims of a person's life. When we forget that, the suffering we inflict can be barbaric. When we remember it the good we do can be breathtaking. ~ Atul Gawande

So there is something perhaps more difficult to conceive of, sometimes born of resignation and sometimes not- a life in which not getting it is the point and not the problem; in which the project is to learn how not to ride the bicycle, how not to understand the poem. Or to put it the other way round, this would be a life in which getting it – the will to get it, the ambition to get it – was the problem; in which wanting to be an accomplice didn't take precedence over making up one's mind. ~ Adam Phillips

We played in bars and other such establishments and anywhere where people would listen. Sometimes they did, and sometimes not. The outfits we wore were classics of the 50's. ~ Phil Harris

You can't ever know the real anybody unless you're friends with them. And sometimes not even then. ~ Susane Colasanti

Life can be tough sometimes. But I think it just starts with admitting, 'Okay, the world's not perfect, how do we live our lives within that and not be miserable?' ~ Amy Lee

Love: The heart wants what it wants. It doesn't seek other people's opinions; sometimes not even your own. ~ Steve Maraboli

If we had, we would have realised sooner that Indigenous organisations are sometimes not the appropriate channel for programmes to help the stolen generations, because many of them play little part in Indigenous associations. ~ Malcolm Fraser

One of the prominent features of exercise, which is sometimes not appreciated in studies, is an improvement in the rate of learning, ~ John J. Ratey

[S]cience has contributed a great deal to war and violence, and people well trained in science are sometimes not entirely rational and are even dogmatic. We have to find a way to teach reflectively, not just scientifically. ~ Nel Noddings

What does old look like? Sometimes I am wrinkled, sometimes not. ~ Maxine Hong Kingston

But I also am pragmatic. Sometimes not doing something is a violence because you're complicit in whatever injustices your government is engaged in. By being passive, you're being violent. ~ Sarah Lilton

Every day is not perfect. You have your bad days and good days just like anyone else. You do not want to talk to people sometimes. It is normal. ~ Brett Favre

I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but it almost seemed like saying that to her would be diminishing it. You don't reassure a rainbow it's colourful, or a star that it shines. Sometimes, not saying something says more than anything else. ~ Nina G. Jones

I have observed that money left without special guidance is sometimes used well and sometimes not. ~ David Packard

Sometimes not seeing things can be a blessing. ~ August Strindberg

Nothing is further from the truth than the claim that the American soul is 'open-minded' and unbiased; on the contrary, it is ridden with countless taboos of which people are sometimes not even aware. ~ Julius Evola

The most terrifying thing is sometimes not what we see, but rather what we are forced to imagine. ~ Felix J. Palma

Billy helped," Jethro said, his voice held hesitation.

"Billy?" Duane didn't try to mask his surprise; he and Beau stared at each other, communicating for several seconds without talking. The twins' ability to impart thoughts through a look had always been frustrating. I didn't like being left out of a conversation.

"Yes. Billy. Billy helped," I confirmed irritably. "And will you two cease discussing with your eyeballs. There are several other people in the room who can't brain-link."

Duane lifted an eyebrow, his eyes darting from me to Beau and then quickly to the floor. "Fine, Cletus. Cool your engine."

I grunted, but said nothing. I didn't want to pick a fight with Duane. I only had a few more weeks of him hanging around and the thought depressed me. He was a grumpy, brooding little bastard who had the habit of only speaking when spoken to - and sometimes not even then. I was going to miss him. ~ Penny Reid

When men and women are single for a long time, the differences are sometimes not as defined. ~ John Gray

[ ... ]certainly not one of them would have known what to reply if they had been asked, Why are you holding hands as you go, it simply came about, there are gestures for which we cannot always find an easy explanation, sometimes not even a difficult one can be found. ~ Jose Saramago

The child is in me still and sometimes not so still. ~ Fred Rogers

Take a deep breath
Pick yourself up,
dust yourself off
Start all over again
And again and again and again.
May be easier said than done, but it can be done. Slowly but surely - and sometimes, not so surely, but with radical hope.
Step by precious step.Hour by hour.Day by day. ~ KERN JEROME FIELDS DOROTHY

Girls can be athletic. Guys can have feelings. Girls can be smart. Guys can be creative. And vice versa. Gender is specific only to your reproductive organs (and sometimes not even to those), not your interest, likes, dislikes, goals, and ambitions. ~ Connor Franta

In that story I gathered up the historical and psychological threads of the life my ancestors lived, and in the writing of it I felt joy and strength and my own continuity. I had that wonderful feeling writers get sometimes, not very often, of being with a great many people, ancient spirits, all very happy to see me consulting and acknowledging them, and eager to let me know, through the joy of their presence, that, indeed, I am not alone. ~ Alice Walker

anthrapologize FW 151.7 v. Express regret or apologize for the science of man or anthropology. So many mistakes, unintentional and sometimes not, have been made in the study of human origins and development, especially racial, along with customs and beliefs, that some apologies are needed. ~ Bill Cole Cliett

She lived in fear of his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies, and sometimes not. ~ Khaled Hosseini

Sometimes the only way is jumping; hope you're not afraid of heights. ~ Gavin DeGraw

I hardly ever go to parties. If I really have to, I'll go, but I'm not the most open person, which is sometimes not the best quality. ~ Eva Green

The person - especially a woman - may be disillusioned by the fact that over time a man's affection turns out to be only, so to speak, a cover for desire or even for an explicit will to use. Both a woman and a man may be disillusioned by the fact that the values attributed to the beloved person turn out to be fiction. Because of the dissonance between the ideal and the reality, affective love is sometimes not only extinguished but even transformed into affective hatred. ~ Pope John Paul II

Books are always obviously having conversations with other books, and some times they're amiable and sometimes not. ~ China Mieville

I hope you will like the little things I have sent you. You seem to be most interested in Railways just now, so I am sending you mostly things of that sort. I send as much love as ever, in fact more. We have both, the old Polar Bear and I, enjoyed having so many nice letters from you and your pets. If you think we have not read them you are wrong; but if you find that not many of the things you asked for have come, and not perhaps quite as many as sometimes, remember that this Christmas all over the world there are a terrible number of poor and starving people. I (and also my Green Brother) have had to do some collecting of food and clothes, and toys too, for the children whose fathers and mothers and friends cannot give them anything, sometimes not even dinner. I know yours won't forget you. So, my dears, I hope you will be happy this Christmas and not quarrel, and will have some good games with your Railway all together. Don't forget old Father Christmas, when you light your tree. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

It's a long ride home with nothing but me for company. I bore myself sometimes. Not often. Just now and again. ~ David Hewson

Your kids never really leave do they? They might live elsewhere, sometimes not even on the same continent, but Mum is always first port of call when there's trouble. Parenting is a lifetime commitment. ~ Cindy Vine