Quotes from Dodie Smith

I think it [religion] is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.

I believe it is customary to get one's washing over first in baths and bask afterwards; personally, I bask first. I have discovered that the first few minutes are the best and not to be wasted-- my brain always seethes with ideas and life suddenly looks much better than did.

My imagination longs to dash ahead and plan developments; but I have noticed that when things happen in one's imaginings, they never happen in one's life, so I am curbing myself.

Stew's so comforting on a rainy day.

My hand is very tired but I want to go on writing. I keep resting and thinking. All day I have been two people - the me imprisoned in yesterday and the me out here on the mound; and now there is a third me trying to get in - the me in what is going to happen next.

I have really sinned. I am going to pause now, and sit here on the mound repenting in deepest shame...

Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.

It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London - that it has always been , in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically - by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town.

I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.

for I know I shall be interrupted-- I shall want to be, really, because life is too exciting to sit still for long.

surely I could give him--a sort of contentment... That isn't enough to give. Not for the giver.

Thinking of death--strange, beautiful, terrible and a long way off--made me feel happier than ever.

I found it quite easy to carry on a casual conversation it was as if my real feelings were down fathoms deep in my mind and what we said was just a feathery surface spray.

We were restless for ages...After a while I heard an owl hooting and calmed myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields – and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice. I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian.

The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.

I could hear rain still pouring from the gutters and a thin branch scraping against one of the windows; but the church seemed completely cut off from the restless day outside--just as I felt cut off from the church. I thought: I am a restlessness inside a stillness inside a restlessness.

Everything in the least connected with him has value for me; if someone even mentions his name it is like a little present to me-and I long to mention it myself

The tea was a comfort - and by that time I more than needed comfort.

While I have been writing I have lived in the past, the light of it has been all around me...

With stories even a page can take me hours, but the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down.

Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them.

Miserable people cannot afford to dislike each other

The key to all knowledge comes in words of just one syllable, apparently.... There's only the last page left to write on. I'll fill it with words of just one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.

Certain unique books seem to be without forerunners or successors as far as their authors are concerned. Even though they may profoundly influence the work of other writers, for their creator they're complete, not leading anywhere.