Quotes from Jean Webster

turn on a man, humiliate him, wound his pride, crush him under foot and think no more of the matter than if he had stepped on a worm. And

I am learning so many new things every day that when each Saturday night comes I look back on the Sallie of last Saturday night, amazed at her ignorance.

I sometimes long to pat him on the head and tell him to cheer up; the world's full of sunshine, and some of it's for him.

These are the happiest girls I ever saw—and I am the happiest of all!

Thank the good Lord!" cried the mother, when she grasped the fact that the small piece of paper was one hundred dollars. "It wasn't the good Lord at all," said I, "it was Daddy-LongLegs." "But it was the good Lord who put it in his mind," said she. "Not at all! I put it in his mind myself," said I.

It's setting a pretty high value on his own soul. I should never rate mine as being worth a lifetime of effort.' 'I suppose a person's soul is worth whatever price he chooses to set.

Oh, of course, if a man keeps his soul in a bandbox he can produce it immaculate in the end; but what's a soul for if it's not for use? He would much better live in the world with his fellow-men, and help them keep their souls clean, even at the risk of getting his own a little dusty.

It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh - I really think that requires spirit. It's the kind of character that I am going to develop. I am going to pretend that all life is just a game which I must play as skillfully and fairly as I can. If I lose, I am going to shrug my shoulders and laugh - also if I win.

Half of the time I don't know what they're talking about; their jokes seem to relate to a past that everyone but me has shared. I'm a foreigner in the world and I don't understand the language.

The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way. The whole secret is in being pliable .

It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones--I've discovered the true secret of happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now. Not to be for ever regretting the past, or anticipating the future; but to get the most that you can out of this very instant.

I believe absolutely in my own free will and my own power to accomplish - and that is the belief that moves mountains.

Is it snowing where you are? All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns. It's late afternoon - the sun is just setting (a cold yellow colour) behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window seat using the last light to write to you.

Dear Daddy-Long-Legs, You never answered my question and it was very important. ARE YOU BALD?

It's much more entertaining to live books than to write them.

Oh, I'm developing a beautiful character! It droops a bit under cold and frost, but it does grow fast when the sun shines. That's the way with everybody. I don't agree with the theory that adversity and sorrow and disappointment develop moral strength. The happy people are the ones who are bubbling over with kindliness.

Please be thinking about me. I'm quite lonely and I want to be thought about

Be careful not to keep your eyes glued to detail. Stand far enough away to get a perspective of the whole.

It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh—I really think that requires spirit!

I ate breakfast in the kitchen by candle-light, and then drove the five miles to the station through the most glorious October colouring. The sun came up on the way, and the swamp maples and dogwood glowed crimson and orange and the stone walls and cornfields sparkled with hoar frost; the air was keen and clear and full of promise. I knew something was going to happen.

The more I study men, the more I realize that they are nothing in the world but boys grown too big to be spankable.

It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones.

She was by nature a sunny soul

Thank heaven I don't inherit God from anybody! I am free to make mine up as I wish Him. He's kind and sympathetic and imaginative and forgiving and understanding - and He has a sense of humor.