Jean Webster Quotes

Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh- I really think that requires spirit!

It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones.

I believe absolutely in my own free will and my own power to accomplish - and that is the belief that moves mountains.

The more I study men, the more I realize that they are nothing in the world but boys grown too big to be spankable.

I think that the most necessary quality for any person to have is imagination. It makes people able to put themselves in other people's places. It makes them kind and sympathetic and understanding.

Everybody likes a few surprises; it's a perfectly natural human craving.

It seems to me that a man who can think straight along for forty-seven years without changing a single idea ought to be kept in a cabinet as a curiosity.

The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.

I am going to pretend that all life is just a game which I must play as skilfully and fairly as I can. If I lose, I am going to shrug my shoulders and laugh—also if I win.

‎Be careful not to keep your eyes glued to detail. Stand far enough away to get a perspective of the whole.

Thank heaven I don't inherit God from anybody! I am free to make mine up as I wish Him. He's kind and sympathetic and imaginative and forgiving and understanding - and He has a sense of humor.

She never lets ideas interrupt the easy flow of her conversation.

She was by nature a sunny soul

I have a terrible wanderthirst; the very sight of a map makes me want to put on my hat and take an umbrella and start. I shall see before I die the palms and temples of the South.

it's dreadful when two people's senses of humor are antagonistic. I don't believe there's any bridging that gulf!

Dear Daddy-Long-Legs, You never answered my question and it was very important. ARE YOU BALD?

Half of the time I don't know what they're talking about; their jokes seem to relate to a past that everyone but me has shared. I'm a foreigner in the world and I don't understand the language.

This is your heart.Keep it locked until the chap turns up who has the key.

It's much more entertaining to live books than to write them.

Getting an education is an awfully wearing process!

And if I ever have any children of my own, no matter how unhappy I may be, I am not going to let them have any cares until they grow up.

Where is the fun of living if you are going to make yourself a slave to all sorts of petty rules?" asked Patty wearily.

I saw a street car conductor today with one brown eye and one blue. Wouldn't he make a nice villain for a detective story?

Eleven pages— this is a letter! Have courage. I'm going to stop.

She was worshiping under the blue sky, to the jubilant chanting of the birds.

This new book is going to get itself finished— and published! You see if it doesn't.

I don't believe it pays to be a great author.

You must remember that you cannot form your character in a moment, my dear. Character is a plant of slow growth and the seeds must be planted early.

This is your heart. Keep it locked until the chap turns up who has the key.