Quotessence
Home / Authors / E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit

E. Nesbit Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleThinkingWritingBookChildrenDullMadeRailwayReading

Famous E. Nesbit Quotes

“What a night it was! The jagged masses of heavy dark cloud were rolling at intervals from horizon to horizon, and thin white wreaths covered the stars. Through all the rush of the cloud river the moon swam, breasting the waves and disappearing again in the darkness. I walked up and down, drinking in the beauty of the quiet earth and the changing sky. The night was absolutely silent. Nothing seemed to be abroad. There was no scurrying of rabbits, or twitter of the half-asleep birds. And though the clouds went sailing across the sky, the wind that drove them never came low enough to rustle the dead leaves in the woodland paths. Across the meadows I could see the church tower standing out black and grey against the sky. ("Man Size In Marble")”

NightSkyWindAtmosphere
Book:Ghost stories
Create image

“This is why I shall not tell you in this story about all the days when nothing happened. You will not catch me saying, 'thus the sad days passed slowly by'--or 'the years rolled on their weary course'--or 'time went on'--because it is silly; of course time goes on--whether you say so or not. So I shall just tell you the nice, interesting parts--and in between you will understand that we had our meals and got up and went to bed, and dull things like that.”

YearsStoriesCoursesInterestingNiceHappenedGoes OnBedSillyMealsDullWearyCatch MeTime Goes OnSad Day
Book:The Railway Children
Create image

“Then suddenly Jack was a changed boy. Something wonderful had happened to him, and it had made him different. It sometimes happened to people that they see or hear something quite wonderful and then they are never altogether the same again.”

PeopleMadeDifferentSometimesBoysWonderfulHappenedChanged
Book:Fairy Tales for Young Readers: By the Author of Shakespeare's Stories for Young Readers
Create image

“Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing? If I were writing a book, I might make mistakes. But God knows how to make the story end just right--in the way that's best for us." Do you really believe that, Mother?" Peter asked quietly. Yes," she said, "I do believe it--almost always--except when I'm so sad that I can't believe anything. But even when I don't believe it, I know it's true--and I try to believe it.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWayWritingTryingBelieveSaidI CanBookEndsStoriesMightMotherMistakeKnow HowNiceDon't BelieveMaking MistakesPeterGod KnowsWriting A BookSo Sad
Author:E. Nesbit
Create image

“When you are young so many things are difficult to believe, and yet the dullest people will tell you that they are true--such things, for instance, as that the earth goes round the sun, and that it is not flat but round. But the things that seem really likely, like fairy-tales and magic, are, so say the grown-ups, not true at all. Yet they are so easy to believe, especially when you see them happening.”

PeopleBelieveSeemsEarthYoungEasyDifficultSunMagicHappeningsRoundsTalesInstanceFairyFlatsFairy Tale
Book:Delphi Complete Novels of E. Nesbit
Create image

“Also she had the power of silent sympathy. That sounds rather dull, I know, but it's not so dull as it sounds. It just means that a person is able to know that you are unhappy, and to love you extra on that account, without bothering you by telling you all the time how sorry she is for you.”

KnowsMeanPersonsAbleSoundLove YouAccountsSilentSorryUnhappyBotherExtrasDullBothering You
Book:Delphi Complete Novels of E. Nesbit
Create image

“I think everyone in the world is friends if you can only get them to see you don't want to be un-friends.”

IfsThinkingWorldWant
Book:7 Books in 1: The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet, The Story of the Treasure-Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods
Create image

“The ones as big as sheep were easier to avoid, because you could see them coming, but when they flew in at the window and curled up under your eiderdown, and you did not find them till you went to bed, it was always a shock. The ones this size did not eat people, only lettuces, but they always scorched the sheets and pillowcases dreadfully.”

PeopleBigsEasierBedWindowSizeShockDragonsSheepSheetsFlewLettucePillowcases
Book:THE BOOK OF DRAGONS: 8 Dragon Tales from Edith Nesbit author The Railway Children
Create image