Louise Fitzhugh Quotes

Little lies that make people feel better are not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't, or someone with a hideous new hat that it's lovely. But to yourself you must tell the truth

There is no sight so ugly as the human face in anger.

You know what? You're an individual, and that makes people nervous. And it's gonna keep making people nervous for the rest of your life.

Ole Golly: The time has come, the walrus said... Harriet M. Welsch: To talk of many things... Ole Golly: Of shoes and ships and ceiling wax... Harriet M. Welsch: Of cabbages and kings... Ole Golly: And why the sea is boiling hot... Harriet M. Welsch: And whether pigs have wings!

All I ask of in the world is just one day after another with nothing planned.

Harriet never minded admitting she didn't know something. So what, she thought, I could always learn.

Good manners are very important, particularly in the morning.

I think maybe they're all right when they say there are some things I won't know anything about until I'm older. But if [love] makes you like to eat all kinds of wurst I'm not sure I'm going to like this.

When people don't do anything they don't think anything, and when people don't think anything there's nothing to think about them.

This was too much. "I refuse. I absolutely REFUSE to be an onion.

There are as many ways to live as there are people.

LIFE IS A GREAT MYSTERY. IS EVERYBODY A DIFFERENT PERSON WHEN THEY ARE WITH SOMEBODY ELSE?

Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.

Gone is gone. I never miss anything or anyone because it all becomes a lovely memory. I guard my memories and love them, but I don't get in them and lie down.

Don't mess with anybody on a Monday. It's a bad, bad day.

Writers don’t care what they eat. They just care what you think of them

Life is a struggle and a good spy gets in there and fights.

She didn't care anymore... and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finall 'I feel different' came slowly to her mind. Yes, she thought, after a long pause. And then, after more time, 'Mean, I feel mean.

I feel there's a funny little hole in me that wasn't there before, like a splinter in your finger, but this is somewhere above my stomach.

[Harriet] hated math. She hated math with every bone in her body. She spent so much time hating it that she never had time to do it.

People who love work, love life.

I think that’s whats wrong with the world. No one says what they feel, they always hold it inside. They’re sad, but they don’t cry. They’re happy, but they don’t dance or sing. They’re angry, but they don’t scream. Because if they do, they feel ashamed. And that’s the worst feeling in the world. So everyone walks with their heads down and no one sees how beautiful the sky is.

If you ever get in real trouble, don't panic. Sit down and think about it. Remember two things, always. There must be some way out of it and there must be humor in it somewhere.

It won't do you a bit of good to know everything if you don't do anything with it.