The Enchanted April Quotes
"Real human beings aren't ever as good as we've been."
"Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it."
"It was as though she could hardly stay inside herself, it was as though she were too small to hold so much of joy."
"She was naked of goodness, and was rejoicing in being naked. She was stripped, and exulting."
"The familiar words of the General Thanksgiving came quite naturally into her mind, and she found herself blessing God for her creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for His inestimable Love."
"She laughed. She had never said anything like that to Mellersh yet, and the idea of it amused her. But why had she not? Oh yes—she used to be afraid of him."
"The whole inflamed sore dreariness, had faded to the dimness of a dream."
"San Salvatore was, it seemed, on the top of a hill, as a medieval castle should be."
"I don’t think references are nice things at all between—between ordinary decent women."
"The sun poured in on her. The sea lay asleep in it, hardly stirring."
"Why, we’ve got positively nothing to do here, either of us, except just be happy."
"There was no way of getting into or out of the top garden at San Salvatore except through the two glass doors, unfortunately side by side, of the dining-room and the hall."
"There was so much beauty, so much more than enough for everyone, that it did appear to be a vain activity to try and make a corner in it."
"I’m very glad I wasn’t [born fifty years ago]. I dislike being looked at."
"Imagine being old for two or three times as long as being young. Stupid, stupid. Everything was stupid."
"Beauty! All over before you can turn round. An affair, one might almost say, of minutes."
"The sweet smells that were everywhere in San Salvatore were alone enough to produce concord."
"No one could be perfectly at ease if they were being watched and knew it."
"If only Frederick were with her, seeing it too, seeing as he would have seen it when first they were lovers."
"You didn’t take your clothes to parties; they took you."
"It’s quite natural," Mrs. Wilkins interrupted.
"Soon you’ll want us to share," said Mrs. Wilkins reassuringly.
"I’m an old woman," said Mrs. Fisher, "and I need a room to myself."
"We’re only too glad," said Mrs. Wilkins, "for you to have this room if it makes you happy."
"Mrs. Arbuthnot did not want to go. She, the mildest of women, was filled with a curious and surely unchristian desire to stay and fight."
"Poor old thing," said Mrs. Wilkins, shutting the door gently on Mrs. Fisher.
"I’ve been a mean dog," said Mrs. Wilkins.
"What a beautiful dress!" exclaimed Mrs. Wilkins eagerly.
"I’ve had the most wonderful day," began Mrs. Wilkins, her eyes shining.
"Bird-brained," thought Mrs. Fisher, sternly contemplating Lady Caroline.
"You see," Mrs. Wilkins said—a silly trick that, with which she mostly began her sentences.
"It’s a divine feeling, getting rid of things," said Lady Caroline.
"I see nothing," Mrs. Fisher could not this time refrain from interrupting—for what an intolerable trick.
"You’re so quick," said Rose. "I can’t follow your developments."
"Really am I to understand," she asked, "that you propose to reserve the one spare-room for the exclusive use of your own family?"
"What a problem," she said aloud, her eyebrows puckered.
"It’s dreadful, dreadful to be so greedy and keep everything just for oneself."
"It’s quite true. It seems idiotically illogical. But I’m so happy, I’m so well, I feel so fearfully wholesome."
"I’m afraid I used unpardonable language," began Mr. Wilkins very earnestly.
"I thought it most appropriate," said Scrap, who was used to damns.
"Will you have some more tea?" was surely a question to which the answer was simply yes or no.
"How could she not mind the dreadful fibs she had gone in for before leaving home; fancy passing even those over without comment. Wonderful."
"Indulgent as Mrs. Fisher felt towards Mr. Wilkins, and peculiarly and even mystically related after the previous morning’s encounter, she yet could not like a cigar in the house."
"Scrap was not in her bedroom, but the room, on Mrs. Fisher’s opening the door, for she suspected her of being in it and only pretending not to hear the knock, was still flowerlike from her presence."
"She went downstairs to go into the garden in search of her, and in the hall encountered Mr. Wilkins. He had his hat on, and was lighting a cigar."
"However, Mr. Wilkins, snatching off his hat on seeing her, instantly threw the cigar away."
"She already showed all the symptoms of presently wishing to become a client."
"I would advise you not to spoil a delightful holiday with worries over housekeeping."
"But how wealthy. Only the consciousness of great wealth would make her snap her fingers in this manner at the Droitwiches."
"She went in search of Lady Caroline to complain."
"She wished Carlyle could have had five minutes’ straight talk with this young woman."
"They felt more cleared, both of them, that second week—Scrap in her thoughts, many of which were now quite nice thoughts, real amiable ones about her parents and relations."
"What an old darling. Did she really do that? How perfectly adorable of her."
"He wished to stand well with her. She was a woman of parts, and also, he suspected, of property."
"She would have liked to remark on the sensation to someone, but she was ashamed."
"Her heart, which had seemed to stop beating, was suffocating her now, the way it raced along. Frederick did love her then—he must love her, or why had he come?"
"Her thoughts wouldn’t go on. Her mind stammered. She couldn’t think. She could only see and feel."
"She began to creep towards him—softly, softly."
"She went on again, close up to him, and her heart beat so loud that she thought he must hear it."
"‘Frederick,’ she whispered, hardly able even to whisper, choked by the beating of her heart."
"She had come to this place to get away from it, and here was everybody in its different stages."
"Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful."
"It’s a great thing to get on with one’s loving. Perhaps you can tell me of anything else in the world that works such wonders."
"He looked round. The sandy young woman was telling the man they called Briggs to go and sit beside Mrs. Fisher."
"He wiped his moustache for the twentieth unnecessary time, and could not quite keep his hand steady."
"It’s useless minding. I shouldn’t struggle if I were you."
"Indeed, the whole garden dressed itself gradually towards the end in white, and grew more and more scented."