Might I," quavered Mary, "might I have a bit of earth?

Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off and they are nearly always doing it.

Soldiers don't complain...I am not going to do it; I will pretend this is part of a war.

If I go on talking and talking...and telling you things about pretending, I shall bear it better. You don't forget, but you bear it better.

I pretend I am a princess,so that I can try and behave like one.

Whatever comes," she said, "cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.

To speak robin to a robin is like speaking French to a Frenchman