Quotes from Jeanne Birdsall

even a tiny bit of deceit is dishonorable when it's used for selfish or cowardly reasons. - Mr. Penderwick

And I don't know if Batty's gotten over it yet,' said Skye. Mr. Penderwick looked out the window to where Batty was playing vampires with Hound. Hound was on his back, trying to wiggle out of the black towel Batty had tied around his neck. Batty was leaping over Hound's water bowl, shrieking, 'Blood, blood!' 'She looks all right,' he said.

People sometimes make unexpected choices when they're lonely

Don't kill her now, just when we've gone to all that trouble to rescue her," said Jeffrey.

The referee told me this league has never had a brawl of that magnitude," said Mr. Penderwick after a long, painful silence. "Of course, at the time I was pretending to be a casual passerby and not a father at all.

The cuter the boy, the mushier your brain.

Am I odd? Is there something wrong with me, like Mrs. Tifton said?" Skye knelt down on the wet grass and looked straight into Batty's eyes. "No you stupid idiot, there's nothing wrong with you.

This is what made a book great, she thought, that you could read it over and over and never get tired of it.

I've been going insane reading my students' papers. Apparently several of them think the Hubble Space Telescope is used to search the universe for hubbles." ~ Ithana Aaronson

The kitchen] was also messy--delightfully so, thought Jane--and it didn't look as though lots of cooking went on there. There was a laptop computer on the counter with duck stickers on it, the spice cabinet was full of Ben's toy trucks, and Jane couldn't spot a cookbook anywhere. This is the kitchen of a Thinker, she decided, and promised herself that she'd never bother with cooking, either.

Parents almost always want what's best for their children. They just don't always know what that is.

It was all a cottage is supposed to be, small and snug, with a front porch, pink climbing roses, and lots of trees for shade.

Endings are sad, aren't they?" "Yes.

quidquid agas prudenter agas et respice finem...Skye was used to hearing this phrase, which Mr. Penderwick translated loosely as look before you leap and please don't do anything crazy.

The sky was a rich cloudless blue, the air still and dry, the maple trees glowing with glorious reds and oranges and yellows, and everywhere on Gardam Street squirrels bustled about with self-importance, burying their nuts in the most unlikely places.

Skye's always saying exactly the wrong thing to people-it wasn't just special for you.

If there could be anything worse than having a parent die, it would be having a parent who never bothered to meet you.

No, you stupid idiot, there's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect.

The moonlight had turned the gardens into a fairyland, magnificent and mysterious.

What rhymes with smile?" "Bile, as in Your smile makes me want to throw up.

You have a rare and marvelous gift with words.

She had to defend the people she loved the best.

Woof," he said sadly. "Poor Hound," said Batty. "Poor Hound, indeed." Mr. Penderwick was not sympathetic. "Even he should know not to eat towels.

Why does everybody think I argue? I never argue." Skye hesitated. "Or at least, I'm not going to argue as much anymore." "That would be a miracle." Skye chose to pretend she hadn't heard.