Age, with shamefaced relief, has learned the solvent quality of Time. It is this quality which makes possible the contemplation of certain embarrassing heavenly reunions.
Margaret Delandfaith, it seems to me, is not the holding of certain dogmas; it is simply openness and readiness of heart to believe any truth which God may show.
Margaret Deland... is there anything more unjust than to build gold and brass and iron on poor, well-meaning clay, -- and then blame the clay when the whole image falls into dust?
Margaret Deland... when personal happiness conflicts with any great human ideal, the right to claim such happiness is as nothing compared to the privilege of resigning it.
Margaret DelandI'm not to blame for an old body, but I would be to blame for an old soul. An old soul is a shameful thing.
Margaret Delandthe profession of the ministry is like matrimony: if it is possible for you to keep out of it, it's a sign that you've no business to go into it!
Margaret Delandas everybody knows, truthfulness and agreeable manners are often divorced on the ground of incompatibility.
Margaret DelandWhat I object to in Mother is that she wants me to think her thoughts. Apart from the question of hypocrisy, I prefer my own.
Margaret DelandTwenty-five years ago, Christmas was not the burden that it is now; there was less haggling and weighing, less quid pro quo, less fatigue of body, less weariness of soul; and, most of all, there was less loading up with trash.
Margaret Deland... it is curious how fatal it is, either to a situation or to an individual, or even to a name, if in an evil moment it becomes funny.
Margaret Deland... perhaps there is no conceit so arrogant as the conceit which follows a conviction of emancipation.
Margaret DelandA pint can't hold a quart - if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it.
Margaret DelandOne must desire something to be alive; perhaps absolute satisfaction is only another name for Death.
Margaret DelandAbsurdity is the one thing love can't stand; it can overlook anything else, -- coldness, or weakness, or viciousness, -- but just be ridiculous and that's the end of it!
Margaret Deland... Love never forgets; or if it does, it is an imperfect love, like the beautiful love of a dog, faithful and unreasoning.
Margaret DelandThe anger of slow, mild, loving people has a lasting quality that mere bad-tempered folk cannot understand.
Margaret Deland... some of the things floating about in the Well of Memory are not worth recording.
Margaret Deland... there must be reserves -- except with God. The human soul is solitary. But for confession that is different; justice and reparation sometimes demand it; but, again, justice and courage sometimes forbid it.
Margaret DelandGrandmother belongs to the generation of women who were satisfied to have men retain their vices, if they removed their hats.
Margaret DelandIsn't there any statute of limitation in things spiritual? I don't believe any large mind dwells on its sins, any more than on its virtues!
Margaret Delanda great moment raises most of the people who experience it, to its own level; and that is why they do not always recognize its greatness - or their own.
Margaret DelandSelf-sacrifice which denies common sense is not a virtue. It's a spiritual dissipation.
Margaret Delandas I get older there is nothing more constantly astonishing to me than the goodness of the Bad; - unless it is the badness of the Good.
Margaret DelandI've always thought the law ought to put on spectacles, it has mighty poor eyesight once in a while.
Margaret DelandSome time in our lives every man and woman of us, putting out our hands toward the stars, touch on either side our prison walls the immutable limitations of temperament
Margaret Deland