Karen Cushman Quotes

#1. Fathers should make you feel safe.

Karen Cushman

#2. I want to remake the whole world; anything less is not worth the trouble.

Karen Cushman

#3. Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.

Karen Cushman

#4. I think sometimes that people are like onions. On the outside smooth and whole and simple but inside ring upon ring, complex and deep.

Karen Cushman

#5. Love brightens and purifies the heart.

Karen Cushman

#6. She dreamed of nothing, for she hoped for nothing and expected nothing. It was as cold and dark inside her as out in the frosty night.

Karen Cushman

#7. Seems to me home is where I am loved and safe and needed.

Karen Cushman

#8. Corpus bones, I thought. To be wedded to this perfumed prig with his mouth in a knot and a frown always on his face!

Karen Cushman

#9. I am near fourteen and have never yet seen a hanging. My life is barren.

Karen Cushman

#10. It's important to know what you think, my dear, or else you will be so hemmed in by other people's ideas and opinions, you won't have room for your own.

Karen Cushman

#11. Minds, like diapers, need occasional changing.

Karen Cushman

#12. My pains are but trifling things compared to my joy.

Karen Cushman

#13. [in the context of 1881] "Don't you want to get married and have babies? Mrs. Bergman used to say that women need-" "What women need is more exercise, shorter skirts, and their own way once in a while.

Karen Cushman

#14. I cannot be a monk, nor a crusader, nor a tumbler. I must stay here and hem sheets until I die. My humors are greatly out of balance. I prescribe for myself wormwood and spiced wine and some of the custard left from supper, and I will let all of the dogs sleep in my bed.

Karen Cushman

#15. Just as a river by night shines with the reflected light of the moon, so too do you shine with the light of your family, your people, and your God. So you are never far from home, never alone, wherever you go.

Karen Cushman

#16. Just because you don't know everything don't mean you know nothing.

Karen Cushman

#17. Seems to me God made a big mistake when He failed to put handles on watermelons.

Karen Cushman

#18. I cannot escape my life but can only use my determination and courage to make it the best I can.

Karen Cushman

#19. I feel safer when you're here. You're so big and sturdy, like a beautiful tree I can lean on and not knock over.

Karen Cushman

#20. She must not look too proud nor yet too humble, lest people say she is proud of her humility."

Excerpt From: "Catherine, Called Birdy.

Karen Cushman

#21. I know what I want. A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.

Karen Cushman