Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH Quotes
"In the soft earth of a bean, potato, pea and asparagus patch there is plenty of food left over for mice after the human crop has been gathered."
"Lined with bits of leaves, grass, cloth, cotton fluff, feathers and other soft things Mrs Frisby and her children had collected, the house stayed dry, warm and comfortable all winter."
"January and February were the hardest months; the sharp, hard cold that began in December lasted until March, and by February the beans and peas had been picked over (with help from the birds), the asparagus roots were frozen into stone, and the potatoes had been thawed and refrozen so many times they had acquired a slimy structure and a rancid taste."
"She wished she knew where to find a bit of green lettuce, or a small egg, or a taste of cheese, or a muffin."
"Mrs Frisby hopped closer and then, carefully, crept up the side of the stump and peered inside. When her eyes got used to the dark, she saw that she had found a treasure: a winter’s supply of food, carefully stored and then, for some reason, forgotten or abandoned."
"His eyes looked wild and strange from the fever; he trembled continuously, and each breath he took sounded like a gasp for life."
"The basement remained, a great square hole in the ground; and in its crumbling walls, protected from the wind and snow, numerous small creatures lived."
"‘He has pneumonia,’ said Mr Ages. ‘I have some medicine that will help him. But the most important thing is to keep him warm. And he must stay in bed.’"
"She could go home by the same roundabout way she had come, in which case she would surely end up walking alone in the woods in the dark — a frightening prospect, for at night the forest was alive with danger."
"Taking a firm grip on her packets of medicine, Mrs Frisby went under the fence and set out towards the farmyard. The first stretch was a long pasture; the barn itself, square and red and big, rose in the distance to her right; to her left, farther off were the chicken houses."
"True. Just the same I am in debt to you. If the time ever comes when I can help you, I hope you will ask me. My name is Jeremy. Mention it to any crow you see in these woods and he will find me."
"She thought of Timothy, and of the big steel plough blade. She told herself: I have no choice. If there is any chance that the owl might be able to help me, to advise me, I must go."
"But if you make so much noise again the cat is sure to hear. If he hasn’t heard already."
"‘Poor Timothy. Lie back down and keep covered.’ She spread over him some of the bits of cloth they used as blankets. ‘After a while we’ll fix you a pallet in the living room so you can lie out where it’s light. I’ve found a fine supply of corn this morning, more than we can eat for the rest of the winter. Would you like some?’"
"‘It’s all right,’ he said kindly. ‘There’s nothing to be nervous about. I fly over the woods a dozen times a day."
"Now," said the owl, "you may state your problem."
"My only advice to you is this: If you stay in the house you will surely be crushed and killed, all of you. Therefore, it is better to take your chances with moving."
"The wild onions are already up in the pastures."
"I mean, madame, that there is a way that your son's life might just possibly be saved."
"But I’m going to ask them anyway. There isn’t anyone else to ask."
"High enough so the trees looked like bushes, the garden like a postcard, and the river like a snake."
"I stayed in here because I wanted to think about something."
"I’m not worried at all. I thought I would be, but I’m not."
"I don’t want any of you to be hurt — maybe even killed — by Dragon. But even more, I don’t want the attempt to fail."
"It was a fine place, noisy and full of smells."
"It was a rough life, but not so hard as you might think, because of the market."
"All of us kept a reserve supply, because some days — Sundays and holidays — the market would be closed, and we were never quite sure when this would happen."
"All they did with it was haul it away to the city incinerator. So what harm if we ate some of it?"
"We’re too valuable to them now. They’ll be careful."
"But the fact is, we aren’t rats any more. We’re something Dr Schultz has made. Something new."
"It was a joyful feeling, at first, just to be free again and to get those laboratory collars off."
"Rats had always lived that way. And yet — why?"
"The greatest treasure of all, for us, was in the study... Thousands of books, about every subject you could think of."
"We fell on those books with even more appetite than on the food."
"And all winter, far into the night, we read books and we practised writing."
"Maybe it’s because the owl sent me,' said Mrs Frisby, searching for an answer that would satisfy him. 'They seem to be impressed by the owl."
"If the ants can do it, Nicodemus says, if the bees can do it, so can we."
"We learned about astronomy, about electricity, biology and mathematics, about music and art."
"But there was one book, written by a famous scientist, that had a chapter about rats. Millions of years ago, he said, rats seemed to be ahead of all the other animals, seemed to be making a civilization of their own."
"Our life was too easy. I thought of what the scientist had written about our prairie dog ancestors, and I was worried."
"It was a comfortable, almost luxurious existence. And yet all was not well."
"We did not have enough work to do because a thief’s life is always based on somebody else’s work."
"You forget. I did do Jeremy a favour. That’s what started the whole thing."
"Somehow, she had to get out. Her children, even now, would be alone in the dark house, alone at night for the first time."
"It’s a good plan and a brave one. It would be the first time in all the world that intelligent beings, besides men, had ever tried to start a real civilization of their own."
"In half an hour she admitted defeat, at least for the moment, and climbed back down to the bottom of the cage."
"I thought you might like to come home. Your children are asking after you."
"‘You know,’ he said, ‘I had a feeling the first time I clapped eyes on you that you’d bring us good luck.’"
"He said his name was Justin. Have you met him? He’s very nice."
"But Mother, that’s terrible. It must have been Justin. He saved Brutus and then went back. And he was so nice."
"I’m going to find out. I’m going to go to the Thorn Valley, somehow, someday."
"‘Whoever he was,’ said Mr Ages, ‘he was brave.’"