Quotes from Victoria Thompson

One woman couldn't change the world. She could just make small parts of it better.

Yet sometimes the world judges females by a different standard and seeks to punish them unjustly.

Did you take a vow of poverty or something? This is a housedress, Malloy, she said, indignant again. I was cleaning when you came. I gave my other clothes away because I got some new ones. From my mother. Did your mother take a vow of poverty?

Churches are full of sinners, not saints

Was that all it took? What? she asked, completely bewildered. To shut you up, he clarified with a definite grin this time. All it took was agreeing with you. She glared at him. If you'd ever tried agreeing with me before, you'd have known that, she snapped. I had to wait until you were right about something, he replied, then hurried to open the door before she could smack him, which she dearly wanted to do.

Try not to dwell on what you might have done differently. You cannot change the past, and it only spoils the future.

Too many guilty people get off scot-free if they have money or influence.

Influenza. Remember, Elizabeth, I had it back in the spring? A lot of other people did, too. It wasn't too bad, although I do hate to be sick, but it's back now, with a vengeance.

the city," he said diplomatically.

Frank pitied anyone naïve enough to believe they could predict with certainty how another human being would act.

Wooten, for any reason, you would have a difficult time even bringing

She remembered how her parents had warned her about Malloy, and she remembered how Malloy warned her about Malloy. Too many things to remember.

in-law told her she'd have to leave?" Maria shrugged. "She was

Women don't vote, so they don't have to pay attention to what we want. If we could vote, though, they'd have to pay attention, and they'd have to pass the laws we want.

Why did people think having a job was such a great thing? No matter how much fun you had the night before, you still had to get up early, get shaved and dressed, and go to some business where people expected you to be pleasant and do some work.

The dead woman was Sarah Brandt.

It wasn't Sarah. Sarah wasn't dead.

Near as she could figure, government was just the biggest of the big cons, with everybody trying to get the best of it for themselves and sting the other guys.

The Checkered Game of Life was a real game, invented by a young draftsman named Milton Bradley in 1860. Checkered referred both to the board, which was patterned like a checkerboard, and also to the checkered way life sometimes goes. No dice were included because of their connection to gambling and because

Lonely people could make terrible mistakes if they weren't careful. She'd been careful for too long to risk it now.

She couldn't know everything about him, of course, because even Sarah didn't know that he was in love with her. But Mrs. Decker knew enough.