She liked books more than anything else, and was, in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things and telling them to herself.

Mistress Mary Quite Contrary

Sometimes since I've been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.

Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.

My mother always says people should be able to take care of themselves, even if they're rich and important.

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

However many years she lived, Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow'.