Women Authors From England

"Physical inferiority is always stressed rather than relieved by a militaristic rule; so that it would not surprise me to find that the half of the human race that produces and trains the other half, will be once more degraded! One must not forget that many women will like it better. For one pets what one degrades; and one has to support what one has enfeebled."

"Even not being liked has a certain virtue about it, if the reason for the dislike does not lie in yourself!"

""Ought"! What an ugly word that is!"

"Even the slightest failure was an indignity to Olaf; but to Hans failure had no more moral significance than success."

"It is true that her heart is sick, but where there is laughter there is always more health than sickness."

"I believe that all daughters, even when most aggravated by their mothers, have a secret respect for them. They believe perhaps that they can do everything better than their mothers can, and many things they can do better, but they have not yet lived long enough to be sure how successfully they will meet the major emergencies of life, which lie, sometimes quite creditably, behind their mothers."

"It is a good thing to learn early that other people's opinions do not matter, unless they happen to be true."

"All persecution is a sign of fear; for if we did not fear the power of an opinion different from our own, we should not mind others holding it."

"You can't always predict what will get a child's imagination started, but in my experience they tend to remain absorbed longer with fantasy games."

"When a reserved person once begins to talk, nothing can stop him, and he does not want to have to listen, until he has quite finished his unfamiliar exertion."

"Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall cooked and ate a root while researching her book Peonies: The Imperial Flower (1999). She described the flavour as 'reminiscent of turnips soaked in wallpaper paste mixed with '."

"The boy still has that uneasy half-deluded love a man never wholly loses for his mother; but I should suppose that the girl Gillian has emptied from her hard little heart the last traces of her childhood's affection for her mother. Both children were no doubt used as active recipients for their parents' conflict. They were filled, poor little empty cups, by their parents, with the poison of their differences; and then passed from one to the other."

"I am never at picnics. The ground was not meant to be sat upon in its raw state, I feel sure, and I prefer my food without either caterpillars or drafts!"

"A blossom must break the sheath it has been sheltered by."

"... Jane, 72, who in the mid-1960s worked as the first secretary of ’s fan club, and her husband, Rob, 76, a retired advertising executive, are far from being stereotypical old buffers. In fact, they were trend-setters in their day — among the first of the “down-shifting” young professionals who had the chutzpah to get off the corporate conveyor belt, sell up in London and go in search of a better quality of life in the sticks. ‘There was a time when people said to , “you must be Jane’s son”, she says wistfully. ‘Then suddenly I was Hugh’s mother’. Their decision to swap the security of a regular salary cheque for life in the freelance lane took considerable courage in 1971, with unemployment hovering at the 7% mark. “We did it for the children, really,” Jane recalls. “Both Rob and I were brought up in the countryside, and we wanted the same for Sophy and Hugh. We were living in at the time, but this was before it became posh. It was lively and multi-ethnic, with around the corner. It was lots of fun, but it was not the best place to bring up children."

"According to the type of terrain and the of the line, them may cost anything from twice to sixteen times that of s."

"is the only element, besides birds and human beings, which brings life and movement into the garden, while an expanse of still water gives a unique sense of space and unity. It clarifies a design by accentuating the basic level to which all else relates."

"My first choice must be that of the landscape architect Sylvia Crowe who published Garden Design in 1958. It remains the most comprehensive book on design I know... She covers Far Eastern developments, the , , English garden development and finally the contemporary garden in the West. But it is not all history – she weaves in design theory as she describes historical settings."

"[T]o be a Jew is to belong to an old harmless race that has lived in every country in the world; and that has enriched every country it has lived in.It is to be strong with a strength that has outlived persecutions. It is to be wise against ignorance, honest against piracy, harmless against evil, industrious against idleness, kind against cruelty! It is to belong to a race that has given Europe its religion; its moral law; and much of its science — perhaps even more of its genius — in art, literature and music.This is to be a Jew; and you know now what is required of you! You have no country but the world; and you inherit nothing but wisdom and brotherhood. I do not say that there are no bad Jews — userers; cowards; corrupt and unjust persons — but such people are also to be found among Christians. I only say to you this is to be a good Jew. Every Jew has this aim brought before him in his youth. He refuses it at his peril; and at his peril he accepts it."

"[H]urt vanity is one of the cruellest of mortal wounds."

"The words her father had said to her, echoed over and over in her memory — "Love generously, wisely, and without haste!" She thought that wisdom was in the simple joy of her lover’s eyes; about generosity Freya did not think at all — for those who practise it never weigh it — but the word "haste" she blotted out of her mind."

"The only creative power I know is that of what might roughly be called "love"; not of course a sentimental love: a far more impersonal and less individual emotion. I sometimes think that migratory birds may have it for each other. They fly in the same direction, and have never been seen to interfere with each other's flights."

"When lightning strikes, the mouse is sometimes burned with the farm."

"Time stood as still as an enemy in ambush."

"A red-hot belief in eternal glory is probably the best antidote to human panic that there is."

"Morale is not a single instinct. It has many ingredients. A sense of personal responsibility, the natural courage of an individual, the amount of his acquired self-discipline — and above all his interest in others — these together make up the spirit of morale."

"Neither saints nor angels have ever increased my faith in this enigma Life; but what are called "common men and women" have increased it."

"I wonder how often not the intention but the desire springs up in a doctor's mind: "Can I let this human being out of the trap of Life?""

"It is you men who make war! ... We, who have children, would never make it! Why should a woman be broken up in pain, to give her child life, only to see him carried away from her, to make food for guns?"

"I have prized courage. For with courage a human being is safe enough. And without it — he is never for one instant safe!"

"Curses are children of hate; they belong to the wrong family! Prayers are better than curses!"

"There are many good and helpful books worth careful reading—among which may be mentioned: 's How to Lay out a Garden, 's Landscape Gardening, 's Formal Garden in England, 's great work L'Art des Jardins, 's Art and Craft of Garden Making, and from the historical side A History of Gardening in England by the Hon. . The standard work on Japanese gardens is by . Many other books might be mentioned, but the above I have found the most interesting from the design point of view ..."

"The came in with , and work, already practised, became the vogue. Stiff s, and , with the orange trees in tubs outside during the summer, were in every garden of fashion. ... One of the most charming developments of 's time in topiary work was the long alley bordered by trees, generally , kept clipped up to about 10 ft. and then allowed to feather naturally. During this reign the revolt began towards "nature"."

"The position of the kitchen garden is largely dependent on the position of the kitchen, and easy and private access should be arranged between them. Size has to be settled. An acre is supposed to be enough to supply ten persons with vegetables and small fruit, and the designer can tell from the type of house how many have to be catered for; and he rules off sufficient space. Then come the s for games. The most naturally level part should be chosen for them, other conditions being satisfactory. A lawn tennis court measures 78 ft. × 36 ft., and to ensure ample running back space, 120 ft. × 60 ft. must be allowed. requires 115 ft. × 84 ft. for a full sized game, and 120 × 90 ft. of levelled lawn should be provided. A fall of 2 in. in the 100 ft. does not affect tennis, but for croquet the lawn must be a true level. A tennis court ought to run north and south in order to avoid the afternoon sun."

"In one home, the newly-wed is learning to cook, and as her husband enjoyed straight , she is enchanted when her roast chicken with its , and stuffings, is a success. In another home, with more adventures tastes, the of steak, potatoes and onions, is (unusually for our palates) flavoured not only with marjoram but with the pungency of seeds."

"A striking plant from Tibet, the asafoetida has stimulant properties, and is a close relative of ) which it resembles to some extent, as it has the typical divided foliage and inflorescence of the (the family)."

"... Horticultural Show in the Temple Gardens. I go every year now, and should be sorry to miss it. How odd it seems, that for years and years I never went to a , or knew anything about them, and now they have become one of the interests of my life! The great attraction this year is the revival of what are called old-fashioned late single Tulips—Breeders, Flames, &c. Those who like to buy the bulbs, ordering them carefully by the catalogue, may have their gardens gay with Tulips for over two months, certainly the whole of April and May."

"grows some 6–12in. high, spreading laterally, with a "japanses" style of growth, and has mint-blue flowers, like the type. It needs a really warm, dry and sheltered spot outside and is a risky investment, but makes a delightful cool greenhouse plant, with the flowers coming out in February and March, an encouraging harbinger of spring. Prostrate Rosemary is also suitable as a specimen for a sheltered sink garden."

"Many people would say, 'So strict a way of would make life unbearable,' but after a time this strictness so changes the tastes the simpler foods are really enjoyed, and I distinctly think, that when people have dieted for several years, the amount of harm done by an occasional relapse is so small that the social convenience of it makes it worth while, so long as it is acknowledged as a concession to weakness and not a thing to be continued. It is what is done every day that matters."

"... This is a most decorative herb, with pink buds on stems covered with purplish-grey hairs that glisten in the sun. The flowers are intense blue with a black cone of s. The plant usually grows 18ins. to 2½ft. high."

"Charles and Theresa entertained many friends at ‘Woodlands’ including , , , Henry James, Thomas Croft, and members of the Lushington family who also lived locally. Edward Burne-Jones was particularly keen to visit. He had previously stayed with his friend Stanhope at neighbouring ‘Sandroyd House’ which had been built in 1860 for the pre-Raphaelite painter by the architect , and visited the lovely fir woods in the surrounding area. Theresa’s garden was much admired by those in her circle, it comprised a terrace with planters, beds and borders of hardy plants and a in which she also grew culinary herbs."

"What ever happy region is thy place, Cease thy celestial song a little space; (Thou wilt have time enough for hymns divine, Since Heav'n's eternal year is thine.)"

"We are Diana’s virgin train, Descended of no mortal strain: Our bows and arrows are our goods, Our palaces the lofty woods. * * * If you ask where such wights do dwell, In what blest clime, that so excel, The poets only that can tell."

"Art she had none, yet wanted none: For Nature did that want supply."

"Like as the armèd knyght Appoynted to the fielde, With thys world wyll I fyght, And fayth shall be my shielde."

"Christopher Dare...asked me, wherefore I said, I had rather to read five lines in the Bible, than to hear five Masses in the Temple: I confessed that I said no less: not for the dispraise of either the Epistle or the Gospel, but because the one did greatly edifie me, and the other nothing at all."

"I willingly accept Cassandra's fate, To speak the truth, although believ'd too late."

"... pick up one of those superb books such as Private Gardens of England, by , on a wild, wet afternoon in February when the wind is shrilling outside, moaning through the gaps and spattering the window with rain. Turn to a picture of Saling Hall showing blues and silvers against the static severity of s, or see the black and white photographs of roses, cobbles and at , in which there's a table and chairs glimpsed through an open door in the garden wall. Books such as these are indeed a strong element of the whole pleasure of gardening; they need to be devoured and mulled over as well as those which are carried round in an earthy hand as vital advice flows out on what to do with five hundred s at the s."

"From an abbess disposed to turn author, we might more reasonably have expected a manual of meditations for the closet, or select rules for making salves, or distilling strong waters. But the diversions of the field were not thought inconsistent with the character of a religious lady of this eminent rank, who resembled an abbot in respect of exercising an extensive manorial jurisdiction, and who hawked and hunted in common with other ladies of distinction...The second of these treatises is written in rhyme. It is spoken in her own person; in which, being otherwise a woman of authority, she assumes the title of dame. I suspect the whole to be a translation from the French and Latin...The barbarism of the times strongly appears in the indelicate expressions which she often uses; and which are equally incompatible with her sex and profession."

"Ideally, should be approached from the heights of Whitcliffe Common for views of its and the among the cluttered roofs and chimneys, the rosy-pink bricks, the half-timbered houses and somber gray stone of the ancient town walls. The circling the town is spanned by the medieval and Dinham bridges — the latter immortalized in paintings by . From where I live, beside the renovated 12th-century chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury and a gnarled magnolia tree, I cross Dinham Bridge to wander alongside water meadows of s, , and grazing cattle. Swans glide on the river, the water roars and tumbles over the weir, and the mercurial flight of a appears like a hallucination."