Mary Ann Shaffer Quotes - Page 2

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Books Dignity Dogs Obsession Reading Writing

I am in a constant state of surprise these days. Actually, now that I calculate, I've been betrothed only one full day, but it seems like my whole life has come into being in the last twenty-four hours. Think of it! We could have gone on longing for one another and pretending not to notice forever. This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it

Mary Ann Shaffer

Thinking, Forever, Lasts

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She is one of those ladies who is more beautiful at sixty than she could possibly have been at twenty. (how I hope someone says that about me someday)!

Mary Ann Shaffer

Beautiful, Twenties, Someday

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But you want to know about the influence of books on my life, and as I've said, there was only one. Seneca. . .Maybe that sounds dull, but the letters aren't - they're witty. I think you learn more if you're laughing at the same time.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Witty, Book, Thinking

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When I got up this morning the sea was full of sun pennies - and now it all seems to be covered in lemon scrim. Writers ought to live far inland or next to the city dump, if they are ever to get any work one. Or perhaps they need to be stronger-minded than I am.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Morning, Writing, Sea

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I much prefer whining to counting my blessings.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Blessing, Whining, Counting

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.14, A&C Black

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I believe I am becoming pathetic. I'll go further, I believe that I am in love with a flower-growing, wood-carving quarryman/carpenter/pig farmer. In fact, I know I am. Perhaps tomorrow I will become entirely miserable at the thought that he doesn't love me back - may, even, care for Remy- but at this precise moment I am succumbing to euphoria. My head and stomach feel quite odd.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Believe, Flower, Pigs

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.210, A&C Black

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Isola doesn't approve of small talk and believes in breaking the ice by stomping on it.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Believe, Ice, Stomping

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.192, Dial Press

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This obsession with dignity can ruin your life if you let it.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Ruins, Dignity, Obsession

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.219, A&C Black

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Isn't that something-to know your own soul by hearsay, instead of its own tidings? Why should I let a preacher tell me if I had one or not? If I could believe I hada soul, all by myself, then I could listen to its tidings all by myself.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Believe, Soul, Should

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.101, Dial Press

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Then i imagined a lifetime of having to cry to get him to be kind, and I went back to no again.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Be Kind, Kind, Cry

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.133, Dial Press

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Friends, show me a man who hates himself, and I'll show you a man who hates his neighbours more! He'd have to – you wouldn't grant anyone else something you can't have for yourself – no love, no kindness, no respect!

Mary Ann Shaffer

Kindness, Hate, Men

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society".

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I, too, have felt that the war goes on and on. When my son, Ian, died at El Alamein-- side by side with... visitors offering their condolences, thinking to comfort me, said, "Life goes on." What nonsense, I thought, of course it doesn't. It's death that goes on; Ian is dead now and will be dead tomorrow and nexe year and forever. There's no end to that. But perhaps there will be an end to the sorrow of it.

Mary Ann Shaffer

War, Condolences, Son

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.101, Dial Press

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Women like poetry. A soft word in their ears and they melt - a grease spot on the grass.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Grease, Ears, Grass

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.61, A&C Black

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In a good mood I call my hair Chestnut with Gold Glints. In a bad mood, I call it mousy brown

Mary Ann Shaffer

Hair, Gold, Bad Mood

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.99, A&C Black

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Miss X has always been a ditherer -- she was a ten month baby and has not improved in any material way since then.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Baby, Missing, Way

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.204, Dial Press

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I don't want to be married just to be married.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Want, Married, Being Married

Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer (2011). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel”, p.8, Dial Press

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I sometimes think I prefer suitors in books rather than right in front of me. How awful, backward, cowardly, and mentally warped that will be if it turns out to be true.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Book, Thinking, Suitors

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.101, A&C Black

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I don’t know whether to feel flattered or hunted.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Feels, Hunted, Knows

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.16, A&C Black

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If there is Predestination, then God is the devil. by Remy, Ravensbruck concentration camp survivor

Mary Ann Shaffer

Devil, Survivor, Concentration

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Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Grief, Light, Dumb

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.124, A&C Black

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Treat a dog right and he'll treat you right - he'll keep you company, be your friend, never ask you no questions. Cats is different, but I never held that against them.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Dog, Cat, Different

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society".

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It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they're after--they only want to look around and hope to see a book that will strike their fancy. And then, being bright enough not to trust the publisher's blurb, they will ask the book clerk the three questions: (1) What is it about? (2) Have you read it? (3) Was it any good?

Mary Ann Shaffer

Book, People, Clerks

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People don't know how chickens can turn on you, but they can -- just like mad dogs.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Dog, People, Mad

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.106, A&C Black

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Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet...it's a tuba among the flutes.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Gentleman, Tubas, Flutes

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Do you suppose the St. Swithin's furnace-man was my one true love? Since I never spoke to him, it seems unlikely, but at least it was a passion unscathed by disappointment.

Mary Ann Shaffer

Disappointment, Passion, Unlikely

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (2009). “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, p.11, A&C Black

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Born: January 1, 1934
Died: February 1, 2008
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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