Maisie Dobbs Quotes
"You must write it down, absolutely and in its entirety, write it down."
"The extraordinary hides behind the camouflage of the ordinary. Assume nothing, Maisie."
"Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions."
"Never follow a story with a question, Maisie, not immediately. And remember to acknowledge the storyteller, for in some way even the messenger is affected by the story he brings."
"Allow the past to have a voice. Then it will be stilled."
"The story takes up space as a knot in a piece of wood. If the knot is removed, a hole remains. We must ask ourselves, how will this hole that we have opened be filled? The hole, Maisie, is our responsibility."
"Remember basics, Maisie, dear. Whenever you are stuck, go back to our earliest conversations. And remember connections, that there are always connections."
"Maisie sat for a while longer, allowing the stillness to calm her natural busyness, until the brighter, grainy light of the waking hours signaled her to move."
"She didn’t yet know what it was, but she was confident that it would speak to her."
"It was 1917 when Vincent came back to England. He was admitted immediately to hospital, for his wounds were so, so … ."
"Utterly devastating, Maisie. I could hardly recognize him when I visited. I had to beg my brother to take me with him—George had arrived home some time before Vincent, as his injuries were not as severe."
"That was when he said that he wanted to be just ‘Vincent.’ He said that as far as Britain was concerned, he was just a piece of meat anyway, he might as well buck the whole system."
"Vincent maintained he was being silenced, but said he was determined to speak before the war was long gone and no one wanted to know anymore."
"Vincent said that it commemorated each man who died in France, and every man brought home to live with injuries. He said that it was for all those who suffered and should have had a place to go back to, when there never was one."
"Maisie allowed some time to pass, then took Celia’s elbow and gently led her to a park bench, set among a golden display of daffodils nodding sunny heads in the late-afternoon breeze."
"Allow grief room to air itself," Maurice had taught her."Be judicious in using the body to comfort another, for you may extinguish the freedom that the person feels to be able to share a sadness."
"She had learned, with Maurice Blanche as a teacher, respect for the telling of a person’s history."
"His accent, a hybrid that came as a result of his French father and Scottish mother, intrigued her."
"Maisie’s "day off " was Sunday afternoon. As soon as the heavy clock on the mantelpiece over the kitchen stove struck a single chime at half past eleven, Maisie waited for Cook to look up at her and nod toward the door."
"He had taken her to the East End of London. First to the noisy markets, which thrilled her, although she could not look directly at some of the street urchins."
"And Maisie thought of them together, too. Of seeing them on the landing, not long after she managed to steer her father in another direction, so that Enid and James wouldn’t see her, she watched as he took the glove off Enid’s right hand and lean over to press his lips to her thin knuckles, then turn it over to the palm and kiss it again."
"Your idea of pullin’ weight is just a bit different from mine."
"I want you to know that I will be watching, Maisie."
"There is nothing of which every man is so afraid, as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming."
"This is our only ride on the merry-go-round."
"You wear your sackcloth and ashes a little too proudly at times."
"You worry about whatever it is you can do."
"It never was worthwhile, so Pack all your troubles in your old kit-bag, And smile, smile, smile."
"I hardly know him—and I could get into trouble!"
"She must have meant a lot to you, your friend."
"Such is the legacy of war … the discarded dreams of children … the waste. The tragedy."
"It’s a strange thing, war. Maisie, you must prepare yourself for what you are going to see."
"Never, never ever change your expression at the sight of a wound—they’ll be looking into your eyes to see their future."
"Thank heavens we are all down here now, have been ever since her ladyship said it was too dangerous in London, what with the Zeppelin raids."
"Coincidence was a messenger sent by truth."
"Maisie, you must prepare yourself for what you are going to see."
"I love you, Maisie, and I want you to be my wife. I promise that as soon as this war is over, I will walk across miles of trenches to find you, and I will stand there in my muddy clothes until you say ‘Yes!’"
"Maisie remembered praying to see Simon just one more time."
"I hope to have this … this … investigation concluded by that time."
"You don’t mind if I call you Sis, get used to it, like?"
"This is good of you, Billy. You were the only person I could ask."
"It wasn’t clothes I was going to pack, Sis," said Billy, with an impish smile.
"Been getting a bit bored around ’ere anyway. I need a change."
"It’s the one red rose the soldier knows, it’s the work of the Master’s hand."
"Don’t worry. I’ll do my best. Can’t have you not able to chase the ladies, can we, Corporal?"
"Hasn’t she, Captain Lynch? Done you a power of good!"
"I tell you, sometimes I think we’re like the waking dead."