we middle-aged folk have the education of life, truly; we know the multiplication table of anxieties and sorrows, the subtraction table of loss, the division table of responsibility.
Margaret DelandThere is no embarrassment quite like the embarrassment of listening to a person for whom one has a regard making a fool of himself.
Margaret DelandIn connection with death, or birth, or love, modesty is only a rather puerile self-consciousness.
Margaret DelandI notice that when people have no sense of responsibility, you call them either criminals or geniuses.
Margaret DelandAge, per se, may claim tenderness and pity, but not respect; that only comes when the years have brought humanity and wisdom and the experience that worketh hope.
Margaret Delandthere are few things that are more endearing than the grace of listening with attention; indeed, it is more than endearing, it is impressive - for no one knows what wisdom lies concealed in silence!
Margaret DelandThere is a bond, it appears, between mother and child which endures as long as they do. It is independent of love; reason cannot weaken it; hate cannot destroy it.
Margaret DelandA sneer is like a flame; it may occasionally be curative because it cauterizes, but it leaves a bitter scar.
Margaret DelandWar is wicked, beause it is murder and hate. And it is foolish, because hate and murder can only destroy people's bodies, not change their minds.
Margaret Delandthe blue and cloudless day closes like the lid of a casket of jewels upon the violet rim of sea, and shuts out the light.
Margaret Delandgossip, after it reaches a certain point of insult and falsehood, becomes a source of amusement to its victims.
Margaret DelandOf all the bitter and heavy things in this sorry old world, the not being necessary is the bitterest and heaviest.
Margaret Delanda manufactured interest has no staying quality - especially if it involves any hard work.
Margaret DelandBy some mysterious method, Susan Carr's gossip gave the listener a gentler feeling towards his kind. When she spoke of her neighbors' faults, one knew that somehow they were simply virtues gone to seed.
Margaret DelandTo talk over a quarrel, with its inevitable accompaniment of self-justification, is too much like handling cobwebs to be very successful.
Margaret DelandThere's one thing that always interests me about you good people, not your certainty that the rest of us are swine, - no doubt we are, - but your certainty that your opinions are pearls.
Margaret DelandIt is useless to deny that, unless one has a genius for imparting knowledge, teaching is a drudgery.
Margaret DelandWhen it comes to bombshells, there are few that can be more effective than that small, flat, frail thing, a letter.
Margaret Deland... if a man really and truly believed that black was white, you might advise him to see an oculist, but you mustn't call him a liar.
Margaret DelandIf you give way to fear, you'll be a coward; and ... a coward is apt to be a liar. The devil's first name is Fear.
Margaret Deland... in a wicked way, it is an incentive to good living to observe the spice of enjoyment there is to a godly soul in a very little sin.
Margaret Deland