Margaret Mitchell: Never pass up new experiences [Scarlett], They enri...

If Gone With the Wind has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong, and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn't.

Margaret Mitchell

fighting strong wind

Brilliance is one part talent, two parts wisdom and three parts passion.

Margaret Mitchell

passion three two

Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.

Margaret Mitchell

inspirational giving life

Every problem has two handles. You can grab it by the handle of fear or the handle of hope.

Margaret Mitchell

problem hope two

Vanity was stronger than love at sixteen and there was no room in her hot heart now for anything but hate.

Margaret Mitchell

anger hate heart

I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken - and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.

Margaret Mitchell

break-up positive love

Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was.

Margaret Mitchell

reputation realizing lost-love

The usual masculine dissillusionment is discovering that a woman has a brain

Margaret Mitchell

women usual brain

All wars are sacred to those who have to fight them. If the people who started wars didn't make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?

Margaret Mitchell

fighting war people

Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect.

Margaret Mitchell

hope positive life

The liar was the hottest to defend his veracity, the coward his courage, the ill-bred his gentlemanliness, and the cad his honor

Margaret Mitchell

coward honor liars

Now you are beginning to think for yourself instead of letting others think for you. That’s the beginning of wisdom.

Margaret Mitchell

think-for-yourself thinking

That is the one unforgivable sin in any society. Be different and be damned!

Margaret Mitchell

unforgivable-sin different literature

Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

Margaret Mitchell

too-much mistake fun

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

Margaret Mitchell

gone courage wind

I want to make you faint. I will make you faint. You've had this coming to you for years. None of the fools you've known have kissed you like this - have they? Your precious Charles or Frank or your stupid Ashley... I said your stupid Ashley. Gentlemen all - what do they know about women? What do they know about you? I know you.

Margaret Mitchell

gentleman stupid years

In a weak moment, I have written a book.

Margaret Mitchell

moments weak book

Hardships make or break people.

Margaret Mitchell

being-strong perseverance courage

I can't make you understand because you don't know the meaning of fear. You have the heart of a lion and an utter lack of imagination and I envy you both of those qualities. You'll never mind facing realities and you'll never want to escape from them as I do.

Margaret Mitchell

envy heart reality

Once, when she was six years old, she had fallen from a tree, flat on her stomach. She could still recall that sickening interval before breath came back into her body. Now, as she looked at him, she felt the same way she had felt then, breathless, stunned, nauseated.

Margaret Mitchell

six-year-olds tree years

Never pass up new experiences [Scarlett], They enrich the mind." - Rhett Butler