Favorite Quotes

Hepzibah

“It's hard to forget, someone like that.”

“I've been waiting for you.”

“It wasn't lack of love, to be sure. They were crazy about each other.”

“He wouldn't squash the tick that bit him, more's the pity.”

“Don't pay anymore heed to gossip. Gossip makes geese, that's what I say.”

“But it's him who must speak the truth if he's to win her back.”

“Stand fast, good and strong. You don't need me anymore.”

Victoria Kennedy

“How dare you bring riff-raff into this house.”

“As far as we're concerned, he is dead.”

“I'm only trying to protect you, my dear.”

Jimmy John Meade

“Do you have satin bedspreads? Owen said you do.”

“She'll tell her pa, and he'll put you in one of his stories.”

“Hey you! Miss stuck-up!”

“She's twelve and she can prove it.”

“See? I win! I win!”

Owen Meade

“Didn't your Pa tell you?”

“You be careful he doesn't push you over the cliff.”

Andrew Stuart

“They retired months ago.”

“What a darn fool, I forgot the key.”

“This is a superior job, Jane.”

“She's a very capable girl.”

“You can't believe every passing comment your Aunt Irene makes. She does these things deliberately.”

“You'd better jump in.”

“I'll leave the dog.”

(Andrew) “I can't” (Jane) “Why not?” (Andrew) “Because I'm still in love with you mother.”

“Robin,- I love you. I want you to come back.”

“I said I LOVE you.”

Irene Stuart

“Aggie's as strong as an ox, just a little deaf.”

“It's only your father, lovey. I'd recognize the sound of his hearse anytime.”

“Your father and Lillian make such a handsome couple.”

Jane Stuart

“My first name is Victoria after my grandmother, but my name's Jane.”

“I know my grandmother is horrible, but we can still be friends.”

“I hate my relatives, Mary, especially Phyllis. They're such snobs.”

“It got all foggy and misty.”

“Jimmy John brought me for a visit- n' the Titus sisters were talking- n' I love you, Dad.”

Robin Stuart

“It had nothing to do with you.”

“You're much to hard on her, Mother.”

“It's just that it's hard to forget someone like that... what happened was irreparable. He was really in love with someone else.”

“You cut us off. How dare you. I was talking to my husband and you cut us off.”

Justina Titus

“She loved him dearly.”

“She fell for him hook, line, and sinker.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Dear heart!”

Violet Titus

“We wouldn't want an ugly girl.”

“Poor soul!”

Josephine Turner

“A good kick in the rear ends is what I'd like to give ya!”

“I work good n' hard 'round here, I do.”

“I ain't riff-raff, you know. I know I'm not like you neither, your'e people. I ain't riff-raff. I'm respectable, and I work hard to pay my own way.”

“Now don't take no nonsense from anyone- even an ax-murder.”

“I was born washin' dishes.”

“You'd think the queen's crown was under his bums instead of a ordinary two-wheela.”

“If you can't stand up to some cows, how can you expect your mum to stand up to your gran?”

“I'll poke your eye out. Be off with you bossy.”

“And if it weren't for her what, rubbaneck?”

“All I know is that she drove like a flippin' disaster over a cliff.”

“Propa glamour, ain't it?”

“How do I look? Hey! A letta!”

“I wear two at the same time- that way they're no hard feelin's.”

“Hepzibah knew you'd come back. Don't ask me how, but she knew.”

“You gotta come quick; she's slippin' fast.”

Miscellaneous

“Such splendid, dirty linen, Junky Jane.” ~Agnes Ripley

“Who thought you had it in you? A dull little thing like you.” ~Agnes Ripley

“We all want to disown you, you know.” Phyllis Kennedy

“Apparently he lives in the Maritimes. He's a writer, and he doesn't even have two cents to rub together.” Phyllis Kennedy

Quotes from the book:

Aunt Irene

~ A very pretty lady of perhaps forty-five or fifty, with large, pale blue eyes and smooth ripples of auburn hair around her placid, creamy face. ~

“Darling, you will have the last word, won't you? So like your Grandmother Kennedy.”

Victoria Kennedy

“Ah, but do you think your opinion counts for a great deal?”

“Handsome is as handsome does.”

Andrew Stuart

~ his odd, peaked eyebrows... the way his thick, rather unruly hair sprang back from his forehead the slightly stern look in the eyes which yet had such jolly wrinkles at the corners... and the square, cleft chin which reminded Jane so strongly of something, she couldn't remember what. ~

“A russet-haired jade.”

“I don't believe I want her fattened up. I like her bones.”

“And suppose you call me dad? I'm afraid I'd make a terribly awkward father, but I think I could be a tolerable dad.”

“Sorry I couldn't get in last night, but my jovial, disreputable old car died right on the road. I managed to restore it to life this morning... at least long enough to hop into town like a toad...”

“This Jane person knows her onions.”

“That girl can be in three places at once. I don't know how she manages it...”

“As soon as you hang a picture on a wall, the wall becomes your friend. A blank wall is hostile.”

“Not like the Bible? Jane, this will never do. If anyone doesn't like the Bible there's something wrong either with him or the way he was introduced to it. We must do something about it. The Bible is a wonderful book, my Jane.”

“Jane likes a clear space round her... as I do.”

“You don't need to tell me how sweet she (Robin) is, Jane.”

“Matter, says she, with not a quiver in her voice. You don't know,... I hope you never will know... what it is like to look casually out of a kitchen window, where you are discussing the shmefully low price of eggs with Mrs. Davy Gardiner, and see your daughter... your only daughter... stepping high, wide, and handsome through the ladscape with a lion. You think you've suddenly gone mad...”

“Jane, two foolish people have learned a little wisdom.”

“Look at her, Jane... look at my little golden love.”

Jane Stuart

“It's Jane.” said Jane firmly. “At least it's Jane Victoria but I am Jane.”

“And I like loving people,” thought Jane. “It's nice.”

“Mummy,” she said, “is my father alive?”

“I can't put it (cat) out in the cold, Mary. Let me give it some supper and leave it here till after dinner. I'll ask grandmother to let me keep it. Perhaps she will if I promise to keep it out here and in the yard. You wouldn't mind it round, would you, Mary?”

“Mummy, I wish we could get away... just you and I. I hate this place, Mummy, I hate it.”

(Jane) “May I have this picture, Phyllis... please?” (Phyllis) “Whose picture? Why... that? Do you know him?” (Jane) “No, I've never heard of him before. But I like the picture.” (Phylis) “I don't. Why... he's old. And he isn't a bit handsome.”

“I don't belong here.”

“I thought it would please you (grandmother). But you are never pleased with anything I do.”

“Perhaps... it isn't too late yet, dad.”

Robin Stuart

~ Her hair was a warm, wavy gold and tonight she was wearing it brushed away from her forehead, with little bunches of curls behind her ears and a row of them at the nape of her white neck. She wore a dress of pale yellow taffeta with a great rose of deeper yellow velvet at one of her beautiful shoulders. ~

“There is no escape for either of us now.”

“He will like you better if... if... he thinks you don't love me too much.”

(Robin) “You don't like 60 Gay very well, do you dearest?” (Jane) “No... do you?” (Robin) “I hate it!”

“Irene made me feel like a shadow in my own house. She liked to humiliate me, I think. She was always sweet and smiling... but she always blew my candles out. She patronized me...”

~ And mother's laugh... was it a laugh or a chime of bells? ~

Josephine Turner

~ Jane saw a girl of about her own age, with a very white little face under a thick bang of black hair cut straight across her forehead. The hair looked as if it had not been washed for a long time but the eyes underneath it were brown and beautiful, though of quite a different brown from Jane's. ~

“I ain't riff-raff,” said Jody, her lips quivering. “Of course I'm not like you... Miss West says you're people... but my folks were respectable. Cousin Millie told me so. She said they always paid their way while they were alive. And I work hard enough for Miss West to pay my way.”

Miscellaneous

Jane hated to be called Victoria. Yet everybody called her that, except mother, who called her Jane ictoria. Jane knew somehow that grandmother resented that... knew that for some reason unknown to her, grandmother hated the name Jane. Jane liked it... always had liked it... always thought of herself as Jane.

“Your daughter is a very superior person. Most of the girls nowadays are all tops and no taters. But she's superior- yes, sir, she's superior.” How dad and Jane laughed over that. Dad caller her “Superior Jane” in a tone of mock awe till the joke wore out.

“I realized the first time I saw her that she was superior,” said Uncle Tombstone.