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Jean Webster

Jean Webster Books

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Daddy-Long-Legs

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Daddy Long Legs

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Daddy Long-Legs

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Dear Enemy

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Just Patty

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“You know, Daddy, I think that the most necessary quality for any person to have is imagination. It makes people able to put themselves in other people's places. It makes them kind and sympathetic and understanding. It ought to be cultivated in children. But the John Grier Home instantly stamped out the slightest flicker that appeared. Duty was the one quality that was encouraged. I don't think children ought to know the meaning of the word; it's odious, detestable. They ought to do everything from love.”

ImaginationEducationChildhoodDutyBehaviorBehaviourEducational PhilosophyEducation System
Book:Daddy Long-Legs
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“I look forward all day to evening, and then I put an "engaged" on the door and get into my nice red bath robe and furry slippers and pile all the cushions behind me on the couch, and light the brass student lamp at my elbow, and read and read and read. One book isn't enough. I have four going at once. Just now, they're Tennyson's poems and "Vanity Fair" and Kipling's "Plain Tales" and - don't laugh - "Little Women." I find that I am the only girl in college who wasn't brought up on "Little Women." I haven't told anybody though (that would stamp me as queer). I just quietly went and bought it with $1.12 of my last month's allowance; and the next time somebody mentions pickled limes, I'll know what she is talking about!”

ReadingLittle WomenJerusha Abbott
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“Non sono i grandi piaceri quelli che contano di più nella vita. È il saper approfittare delle piccole cose. Io, Papà, ho scoperto il vero segreto della felicità, che consiste nel vivere l'adesso, nel non rimpiangere in continuazione il passato o nell'anticipare il futuro, ma nel trarre il massimo possibile proprio dall'istante che stiamo vivendo. È come lavorare la terra: puoi avere un tipo di coltura estensiva o intensiva; be', io preferisco avere un tipo di vita "intensiva". Voglio godermi ogni secondo e sapere per certo di goderlo esattamente nel momento in cui lo godo.”

VitaPresenteFelicitàPiaceri Quotidiani
Book:Daddy-Long-Legs
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“What do you think is my favourite book? Just now, I mean; I change every three days. "Wuthering Heights." Emily Bronte was quite young when she wrote it, and had never been outside of Haworth churchyard. She had never known any men in her life; how could she imagine a man like Heathcliff? I couldn't do it, and I'm quite young and never outside the John Grier Asylum - I've had every chance in the world. Sometimes a dreadful fear comes over me that I'm not a genius. Will you be awfully disappointed, Daddy, if I don't turn out to be a great author?”

WritingWuthering HeightsEmily BronteJerusha Abbott
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“Tu credi nel libero arbitrio? Io sì, senza riserve. Non sono per niente d'accordo con quei filosofi che ritengono che ogni azione sia assolutamente inevitabile e che il risultato venga automaticamente da un'aggregazione di cause remote. Questa è la dottrina più immorale di cui abbia mai sentito parlare: in questo modo nessuno dovrebbe essere biasimato per ciò che accade. Se un uomo crede nel fatalismo dovrebbe soltanto rimanere seduto e dire: “Che sia fatto il volere di Dio”, e continuare a stare immobile fino a che cade a terra stecchito. Io, invece, credo fermamente nella mia libera volontà e nel mio potere di agire in piena autonomia. È questa la forza che smuove le montagne.”

VolontàLibero ArbitrioResponsabilità Individuale
Book:Daddy-Long-Legs
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“I never told you, did I, that Amasai and Carrie got married last May? They are still working here, but so far as I can see it has spoiled them both. She used just to laugh when he tramped in mud or dropped ashes on the floor, but now—you should hear her scold! And she doesn’t curl her hair any longer. Amasai, who used to be so obliging about beating rugs and carrying wood, grumbles if you suggest such a thing. Also his neckties are quite dingy — black and brown, where they used to be scarlet and purple. I’ve determined never to marry. It’s a deteriorating process, evidently.”

MarriageHumour
Author:Jean Webster
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“One can't help thinking, Daddy, what a colourless life a man is forced to lead, when one reflects that chiffon and Venetian point and hand embroidery and Irish crochet are to him mere empty words. Whereas a woman- whether she is interested in babies or microbes or husbands or poetry or servants or parallelograms or gardens or Plato or bridge- is fundamentally and always interested in clothes.”

ThinkingMenHelpingHandsBabyHusbandClothesGardenEmptyMereBridgesServantPlatoDaddyMicrobesEmbroideryEmpty WordsParallelogram
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“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.”

IfsThinkingKindI CanPlayCharacterBigsFacesLife IsSpiritGamesWinningLosesLaughingTroubleTragedyCrisisShouldersCrushPettyHazardsTroubles In Life
Book:Daddy-Long-Legs
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“I went to bed last night utterly dejected; I thought I was never going to amount to anything, and that you had thrown away your money for nothing. But what do you think? I woke up this morning with a beautiful new plot in my head, and I've been going about all day planning my characters, just as happy as I could be. No one can ever accuse me of being a pessimist! If I had a husband and twelve children swallowed by an earthquake one day, I'd bob up smilingly the next morning and commence to look for another set. ~Jershua Abbott”

IfsThinkingLooksChildrenCharacterLastsBeautifulNightNextMorningAmountOne DayBedHusbandPlanningThrownPlotTwelveBobLast NightEarthquakesPessimistDejected
Book:Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy: Illustrated
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“I'm going to enjoy every second, and I'm going to know I'm enjoying it while I'm enjoying it. Most people don't live; they just race. They are trying to reach some goal far away on the horizon, and in the heat of the going they get so breathless and panting that they lose sight of the beautiful, tranquil country they are passing through; and then the first thing they know, they are old and worn out, and it doesn't make any difference whether they've reached the goal or not.”

PeopleKnowsTryingFirstsCountryBeautifulEnjoyGoalLosesDifferencesRaceSightPassingPassingsHeatHorizonFar AwayWornTranquilEvery SecondWorn OutPassing ThroughBreathlessRat Race
Book:Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy: Illustrated
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“I have an evening dress, pink mull over silk (I'm perfectly beautiful in that), and a blue church dress, and a dinner dress of red veiling with Oriental trimming (makes me look like a Gipsy), and another of rose-coloured challis, and a grey street suit, and an every-day dress for classes. That wouldn't be an awfully big wardrobe for Julia Rutledge Pendleton, perhaps, but for Jerusha Abbott - Oh, my!”

LooksBigsBeautifulChurchClassStreetsRedDressesBlueRoseDinnerSuitsEveningGreyWardrobeSilkJuliaTrimming
Book:Daddy-Long-Legs
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“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.”

WorldWritingBigsLightLastsWhiteBehindsSunColdLateWindowPopsSettingSnowSettingsHillsColourSeatsWhere You AreYellowAfternoonTowersVioletCornFlakesLate Afternoon
Author:Jean Webster
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“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.”

PeopleWayDoeCharacterBeautifulGrowsBitsMoralSunTheoryColdSorrowAdversityAgreeShiningDisappointmentDevelopingFrostHappy PeopleSun ShinesKindlinessMoral Strength
Book:Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy: Illustrated
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“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.”

LittlesBigsPastPleasureDealsSecretRegretInstantDaddyLive In The NowAnticipating The Future
Book:Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy
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“... in spite of being happier than I ever dreamed I could be, I'm also soberer. The fear that something may happen to you rests like a shadow on my heart. Always before I could be frivolous and carefree and unconcerned, because I had nothing precious to lose. But now -- I shall have a Great Big Worry all the rest of my life. Whenever you are away from me I shall be thinking of all the automobiles that can run over you, or the signboards that can fall on your head or the dreadful, squirmy germs that you may be swallowing.”

ThinkingHeartMayBigsHappensRunningFallLosesWorryMy HeartShadowSpiteOver YouAutomobileGermsFrivolousSwallowingCarefreeUnconcerned
Author:Jean Webster
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“He and I always think the same things are funny, and that is such a lot; it's dreadful when two people's senses of humour are antagonistic. I don't believe there's any bridging that gulf! And he is--Oh, well! He is just himself, and I miss him, and miss him, and miss him. The whole world seems empty and aching. I hate the moonlight because it's beautiful and he isn't here to see it with me. But maybe you've loved somebody, too, and you know? If you have, I don't need to explain; if you haven't, I can't explain.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldNeedsBelieveWellsI CanTwoWholeSeemsBeautifulHateMissingHavensHumourEmptyI HateDon't BelieveSensesWhole WorldMoonlightOh Well
Author:Jean Webster
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