Flora Thompson Quotes

#1. Happiness depends more upon the state of mind - and body, perhaps - than upon circumstances and events.

Flora Thompson

#2. It was still the custom of the countryside to build with local materials produced as close to the selected site as possible, for transport was difficult, even the best of country roads being more fitted for horseback traffic rather than heavy loads.

Flora Thompson

#3. One boy's a boy; two boys be half a boy, and three boys be no boy at all', ran the old country saying.

Flora Thompson

#4. Brains were no good to a working man; they only made him discontented and saucy and lose his jobs. She'd seen it happen again and again.

Flora Thompson

#5. Alas! in nature, as in art, we gain only according to our capacity. You cannot put an ocean in a pint pot.

Flora Thompson

#6. A liar did ought to have a good memory.

Flora Thompson

#7. We cannot bring the good old days back but, if we must eat mass-made foods, get laws passed to insist upon its goodness and purity.

Flora Thompson

#8. The luxuries of the few were becoming necessities of the many ...

Flora Thompson

#9. Now, with the glamour of the past upon them we are inclined to look back on old world festivities with regret and consider present day dances as a poor substitute for the old. From an artistic point of view, they maybe, but in individual freedom and independence of spirit they mark a stage upward.

Flora Thompson

#10. Some great poet or philosopher once said that " he who goes to nature for comfort must go to her empty handed " , and I think he was right.

Flora Thompson

#11. I do not compare the past with the present without a prejudice for either, but, great as the improvement in country life is in many respects, it seems a pity the old cheap, wholesome dishes have gone to make way for tinned and preserved foods.

Flora Thompson

#12. Unlike most great talkers, the rooks are good workers, too.

Flora Thompson

#13. Strict honesty was the policy of most of them; although there were a few who were said to 'find anything before 'tis lost' and to whom findings were keepings.

Flora Thompson

#14. Manner and morals have improved, improved wages and world travel during the war have had effect, and the farm labourer now is an intelligent, self respecting workman, on a level at least with the town artisan. The village rustic of the past no longer exists outside of the comic papers.

Flora Thompson

#15. Nature knows no calendar, the seasons move in a circle.

Flora Thompson

#16. It is the fashion to talk of our changing climate and bewail the hot summers and hard winters of tradition, but how seldom we pause to marvel at the remarkable constancy of the weather from year to year.

Flora Thompson

#17. The wife ought to have the first child and the husband the second, then there wouldn't ever be any more.

Flora Thompson

#18. Twas a still, calm night and the moon's pale light
Shone over hill and dale
When friends mute with grief stood around the deathbed
Of their loved, lost Lily Lyle.
Heart as pure as forest lily
Never knowing guile,
Had its home within the bosom
Of sweet Lily Lyle.

Flora Thompson

#19. It was ordained that our earthly pilgrammage should be a struggle, and life would be a tame affair if everything went smoothly.

Flora Thompson

#20. Afterwards, they always had tea in the kitchen, much the nicest room in the house.

Flora Thompson

#21. The harvest-home or supper is a thing of the past. To those who feel the fascination of the past this may appear sad, but it is not so really for, even while it existed, this surface goodwill was often an empty show.

Flora Thompson

#22. You can lock up from a thief, but you can't from a liar.

Flora Thompson

#23. So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through.. Colour gives way to form. every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky.. new vistas obscured all Summer by leafage, now open up.

Flora Thompson

#24. When I am dead and in my head
And all my bones are are rotten,
Take this book and think of me
And mind I'm not forgotten.

Flora Thompson

#25. What greater restoratives have we poor mortals than a good meal taken in the company of loving friends?

Flora Thompson

#26. Words as to the inner emotions do not come readily to me, for I have led an isolated life mentally and spiritually.

Flora Thompson

#27. There Laura spent many happy hours, supposed to be picking fruit for jam, but for the better part of the time reading or dreaming. One corner, overhung by a Samson tree and walled in with bushes and flowers, she called her 'green study'.

Flora Thompson

#28. Pale purple as the bloom om a ripe plum, veined with the gold of late flowering gorse, set with small slender birches,just turning yellow,with red-berried rowans and thicket of bracken, the heath lay steeped in sunshine.

Flora Thompson

#29. Special qualities are required of the essayist. A poem or a novel may spring from the inner consciousness of an author.. reasoning poers must be brought to reinforce imagination.

Flora Thompson

#30. No, I be-ant expectin' nothin', but I be so yarnin

Flora Thompson

#31. Other days, other ways; and, although they have now been greatly improved upon, the old country midwives did at least succeed in bringing into the world many generations of our forefathers, or where should we be now? -

Flora Thompson

#32. Any artwork needs time and patience and needs above a quiet mind.

Flora Thompson