E Nesbit Quotes

I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.

What a night it was! The jagged masses of heavy dark cloud were rolling at intervals from horizon to horizon, and thin white wreaths covered the stars. Through all the rush of the cloud river the moon swam, breasting the waves and disappearing again in the darkness.I walked up and down, drinking in the beauty of the quiet earth and the changing sky. The night was absolutely silent. Nothing seemed to be abroad. There was no scurrying of rabbits, or twitter of the half-asleep birds. And though the clouds went sailing across the sky, the wind that drove them never came low enough to rustle the dead leaves in the woodland paths. Across the meadows I could see the church tower standing out black and grey against the sky. ("Man Size In Marble")

It's not respectable,' she said. And when people say that, it's no useanyone's saying anything.

We haven't really got anything worth having for our wishes.''We've had things happening,' said Robert; 'that's always something.''It's not enough, unless they're the right things,' said Cyril firmly.

How many miles to Babylon?Three score and ten!Can I get there by candle light?Yes, and back again?

I don't understand," says Gerald, alone in his third- class carriage, "how railway trains and magic can go on at the same time."And yet they do.

I'll tell you something," said Francis,urgent with shoe lace, "if we keep on saying things weren't when we know perfectly well they were, we shall soon dish up any sort of chance of magic we may ever have had. When do you find people in books going on like that? They just say 'This is magic!' and behave as if it was. They don't go pretending they're not sure. Why, no magic would stand it."Book: Wet Magic, Chapter 2

Perhaps there's given up being magic because people didn't believe in it any more.