Miss Read Quotes

• Not to be alone - ever - is one of my ideas of hell, and a day when I have had no solitude at all in which 'to catch up with myself' I find mentally, physically and spiritually exhausting.

  Miss Read

  Ideas, Solitude, Hell

  Miss Read (2007). “Village Diary”, p.188, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  11 Copy quote

• Happiness is the result of an attitude of mind. I believe you can build it out of small things.

  Miss Read

  Happiness, Attitude, Believe

  8 Copy quote

• it seems to me that grandmothers have a very special place in the affections of young children. Not obliged, as parents are, to provide food, shelter, protection, advice and discipline, day in and day out, they can afford to be much more easy-going. The unexpected present, the extra outing, the little treat of a favourite meal prepared especially to delight the child and, above all, the time to listen to youthful outpourings, all make a grandmother a loved ally. It is hardly surprising that the bond between grandmother and grandchild is often stronger than that between parent and child.

  Miss Read

  Children, Grandmother, Discipline

  10 Copy quote

• Thoughts by a graveside are too dark and deep to be sustained for any length of time. Sooner or later the hurt mind turns to the sun for healing, and this is as it should be, for otherwise, what future could any of us hope for, but madness?

  Miss Read

  Hurt, Healing, Dark

  Miss Read (2001). “Village School”, p.120, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  7 Copy quote

• What I do feel the modern child lacks, when compared with the earlier generation, is concentration, and the sheer dogged grit to carry a long job through. ... Helping children to face up to a certain amount of drudgery, cheerfully and energetically, is one of the biggest problems that teachers, in these days of ubiquitous entertainment, have to face in our schools.

  Miss Read

  Education, Teacher, Jobs

  Miss Read (1977). “Chronicles of Fairacre, Comprising Village School, Village Diary, and Storm in the Village”

  4 Copy quote

• The thing to do,' I said as we gained the lane that leads to Beech Green and Fairacre, 'is to get absolutely everything in the summer and lock it in a cupboard. Then order every scrap of food from a shop the week before Christmas and sit back and enjoy watching everyone else go mad. I've been meaning to do it for years.

  Miss Read

  Summer, Order, Years

  Miss Read (2001). “Village School”, p.66, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  6 Copy quote

• A quarter past three," she exclaimed, catching sight of the bedside clock. "What a time to be drinking tea!" "Anytime," Harold told her, "is time to be drinking tea.

  Miss Read

  Drinking, Past, Sight

  Miss Read (2002). “Gossip from Thrush Green”, p.168, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  4 Copy quote

• marrows - alas! - are arriving in a steady stream at the back door. ... Oddly enough, the majority of people who grow them in Fairacre say, as they hand them over: 'Funny thing! I don't care for them myself. In fact, none of the family likes them!' But still they plant them. It must be the fascination of seeing such a wonderful return for one small seed, that keeps marrow-growers at their dubious task.

  Miss Read

  Doors, Hands, Funny Things

  6 Copy quote

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