Quotes from Jan Struther

It took me forty years on earth To reach this sure conclusion: There is no Heaven but clarity, No Hell except confusion.

to achieve unity without uniformity is the whole essence of the democratic way of life.

It's just as important to marry the right life as the right person.

Constructive destruction is one of the most delightful employments in the world, and in civilized life the opportunities for it are only too rare.

For to love, loveless, is a bitter pill:But to be loved, unloving, bitterer still.

To visit a new country for the first time is great fun; but it is even greater fun to introduce somebody else to a country that you know.

O love's a simple word to sayWith nature aiding and abetting

It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but simply there being always an eye to catch.

It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but simply there being always an eye to catch.

There is no other way, it seems, in a deciduous world. True evergreenness does not exist: the word is only another term for the ability to overlap the old with the new.

He was not yet old enough to be able to grade his own misfortunes: it is one of the maturer accomplishments.

And to discuss them with one's own parents would have been quite impossible: horizontal divisions were far stronger in those days than vertical ones. Perhaps the psychologists were right, and the "child mind"—that convenient abstraction—matured earlier nowadays. On the other hand, she herself had outgrown dolls by the age of nine, and here was Judy, at eleven, buying a new one.

A week was what she wanted: a nice manageable chunk of time with a beginning, a middle, and an end, containing, if desired, a space for each of the wonders of the world, the champions of Christendom, the deadly sins, or the colours of the rainbow. (Monday was definitely yellow, Thursday a dull indigo, Friday violet. About the others she didn't feel so strongly.)

In the convex driving-mirror she could see, dwindling rapidly, the patch of road where they had stood; and she wondered why it had never occurred to her before that you cannot successfully navigate the future unless you keep always framed beside it a small clear image of the past.

And, of course, I said to her before she left: 'Even if the worst does come to the worst, you must make it quite clear to the authorities that I can only accept Really Nice Children.'" "And where," Mrs. Miniver could not restrain herself from asking, "are the other ones to go?" "There are sure to be camps," said Lady Constance firmly.

When they got into the Town Hall itself they stopped playing. Less than half an hour later they came out again into the sunlit street: but Mrs. Miniver felt afterwards that during that half-hour she had said good-bye to something. To the last shreds which lingered in her, perhaps, of the old, false, traditional conception of glory.

The unfortunate ones of the world were subjected to a more lingering torment, and the fortunate ones were merely condemned to watch it from a front seat, unwilling tricoteuses at an execution they were powerless to prevent. The least they could do was not to turn away their eyes; for with such a picture stamped upon the retina of their memory they would not be able to lie easy until they had done their best to ensure that it could never happen again.

Another thing they had gained was an appreciation of the value of dulness. As a rule, one tended to long for more drama, to feel that the level stretches of life between its high peaks were a waste of time. Well, there had been enough drama lately. They had lived through seven years in as many days;

Badger nodded towards the trenches. "Woolley and the rest of 'em dig to uncover past civilizations. We dig to bury our own.

Hard words will break no bones: But more than bones are broken By the inescapable stones Of fond words left unspoken.

Oh, no," said Mrs. Miniver. "They do both, I'm certain. But the trouble is, they keep the two processes entirely separate. They've never learnt to think with their hearts or feel with their minds.