The Hired Girl Quotes
"I vow that I will never forget her kindness to me, and I will use this book as she told me to — I will write in it with truth and refinement."
"You must remember," she said, "that dear Charlotte Brontë didn’t have a superior education. And yet she wrote Jane Eyre."
"So after Miss Chandler left, I vowed that I will always remember her as an inspiration, and that I will write in this book in my best handwriting, with TRUTH and REFINEMENT."
"But it isn’t just the men. They bring in the smells from the cowshed and the pigsty, but I’m the one who has to clean out the chicken house and scrub the privy."
"I can never decide whether to be grateful to Alice because she is kinder than the others, or whether I ought to despise her for being such a poltroon."
"It’s not good to hate people in a holy place, when you’re asking God to forgive you the same way you forgive the ones who trespass against you."
"I find I’m in two minds about this. I remember how when I was a little thing, the services seemed so long."
"She’s got work to do here, work she’s fit for."
"I had a wife," he said, "She was a good worker and a helpmeet, till you came along."
"My heart is broken. I look ahead and I don’t know how I can bear the life that’s laid out for me."
"I think my heart would break even worse than it’s broken now."
"When Jane Eyre was tired of teaching at Lowood, she prayed for a new servitude."
"I have escaped! I have achieved the first stage of my emancipation!"
"My heart is racing even as I write, but I plan to go on as bravely as a heroine in a novel."
"Once my mind was made up, I planned my escape with great care and cunning."
"I’m proud of myself because I haven’t been a coward, not one bit."
"I remembered that I was as strong as an ox, and I shoved him with all my strength."
"I felt sheltered by the big tree over my head."
"The world will offer itself to me like a chalice brimming with immortal wine, and I will quaff from it."
"Janet Lovelace! bound for Baltimore, a new servitude, and the wide, wide world!"
"I felt kind of homesick. I never thought I would be that, but when I think of Miss Chandler, my o’ercharged heart seems to swell."
"But I wasn’t a dog or a child. I’d trusted one man that night, and he’d insulted me unspeakably."
"The truth is, I didn’t have the gumption to carry on."
"But at that moment, the room belonged to him: books, vases, carpet, and all. I didn’t belong there."
"Mrs. Rosenbach says you must not interrupt me, Janet."
"Once Shabbos starts, Malka can’t do any dishes, because it’s work."
"I believe he would have spoken the same way to a lost child or a wounded dog."
"I am so ashamed. I’m just boiling with shame."
"People treat me like a baby, but I get away with more."
"You could clean a whole mansion in five minutes."
"I complain about Papa, but he would never, never strike me."
"How heavenly! When Papa comes tonight, he’ll want me to show him my arithmetic."
"I don’t think I’ll ever be able to learn Hebrew."
"I want my own money. I want my own home and my own job."
"I feel so happy as I left the church — happy and purified."
"I’m sure I’m the unluckiest girl who ever lived!"
"I don’t want my ears to look funny sticking out."
"I wish I hadn’t begged, because it wasn’t dignified."
"I'm shedding tears as I write this, but I'm almost finished."
"I wonder if any of Michelangelo’s Sibyls are in The Picturesque World."
"My heart tightened. 'Do you have to take her right away?'"
"I didn’t want to forgive Mrs. Rosenbach, but Mr. Solomon looked very earnest and pleading."
"I stood nonplussed. I never heard anybody talk like that before."
"I almost said my real name. I stammered, 'I’m Jo — Janet.'"
"Money isn’t for toys, or pretty clothes, or even books, but for something you don’t need."
"The funny thing is, I think I wanted the watch even more after I found out it was so expensive."
"I wonder if I’ll ever have anything expensive."
"I’m not in love with David. I’m too young to be in love."
"If you’re fourteen, you shouldn’t even be accused of anything as horrid as being in love."
"Girls always like David. It’s funny, because he has that awful nose."
"He likes saying clever things, but they aren’t original."
"David likes girls, and girls always like David."
"I can never decide if loyalty is a different substance from faith, or the same thing."
"It’s enough for us to know that God keeps faith with those who sleep in the dust."
"I don’t look forward to shoveling coal all day."
"I’m glad I was able to plant a seed of the True Faith in his soul."
"I felt terrible sitting there, strong as an ox, enjoying myself while she was dying."
"Oh, why can’t real life be as glorious as the opera?"
"I don’t think Mrs. Rosenbach knows what she’s asking."
"I reckon he saw me weakening, because his face lit up with mischief."
"I can’t draw you in the library. I need the sunlight."
"I reckon Thomashefsky sensed I was trying to comfort Malka."
"I’m worn out with waiting and wishing and longing."
"I wish it was Tuesday and I were back at the opera."
"It’s a queer thing, but beating the carpets did me good."
"I’ve been praying and praying that he’ll get the commission."
"It was then that I saw I’d missed something."
"I was (well, mostly) thinking about Thomashefsky."
"I’m like a lovelorn girl in a novel, but girls in novels generally aren’t hired girls."
"I’m the limit," he said. "Janet, you really are —"
"I was so happy. I knew Malka would be overjoyed, and I couldn’t wait to surprise her."
"Once you’re married you can kiss as much as you like."
"I think about the conquistadors and how they left off kissing their wives and went sailing across the ocean to conquer a lot of innocent natives who would probably have preferred to stay in their hammocks and kiss their wives."
"Marriage doesn’t always mean kissing and happiness."
"Marriage is a woman’s destiny. There can be no higher calling for a woman than to marry a man and bear his children."
"If marriage is a sacrament, it’s holy, isn’t it?"
"What do you care if your business friends saw us? I didn’t do anything wrong! Why shouldn’t I take the girl to the opera?"
"I can see that David might not want to because of the Christians who persecuted and tortured the Jews."
"The day was overcast and the church was dark and my head hurt."
"The world’s changing — not for the better, if you ask me — but in these crazy modern times, a girl can be anything."