All along the backwater, Kenneth Grahame More Quotes by Kenneth Grahame More Quotes From Kenneth Grahame Monkeys who very sensibly refrain from speech, lest they should be set to earn their livings. Kenneth Grahame monkeys speech should Since early morning he had been swimming in the river, in company with his friends the ducks. And when the ducks stood on their heads suddenly, as ducks will, he would dive down and tickle their necks, just under where their chins would be if ducks had chins, till they were forced to come to the surface again in a hurry, spluttering and angry and shaking their feathers at him, for it is impossible to say quite all you feel when your head is under water. Kenneth Grahame swimming rivers morning For my life, I confess to you, feels to me today somewhat narrow and circumscribed. Kenneth Grahame feels today Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror - indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy - but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august presence was very, very near. Kenneth Grahame august mean fall Onion sauce! Onion Sauce! Kenneth Grahame onions sauce Everything seems asleep, and yet going on all the time. It is a goodly life that you lead, friend; no doubt the best in the world, if only you are strong enough to lead it! Kenneth Grahame strong doubt world I'm such a clever Toad. Kenneth Grahame toads clever It seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. Kenneth Grahame hero home song There seemed to be no end to this wood, and no beginning, and no difference in it, and, worse of all, no way out Kenneth Grahame woods differences way The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea. Kenneth Grahame tired heart men Toad, with no one to check his statements or to criticize in an unfriendly spirit, rather let himself go. Indeed, much that he related belonged more properly to the category of what-might-have-happened-had-I-only-thought-of-it-in-time-instead-of-ten-minutes-afterwards. Those are always the best and raciest adventures; and why should they not be truly ours, as much as the somewhat inadequate things that really come off? Kenneth Grahame toads might adventure We shall creep out quietly into the butler's pantry--" cried the Mole. "--with out pistols and swords and sticks--" shouted ther Rat. "--and rush in upon them," said Badger. "--and whack 'em, and whack 'em, and whack 'em!" cried the Toad in ecstasy, running round and round the room, and jupming over the chairs. Kenneth Grahame moles ems running "Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad. . . . "The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today - in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped- always somebody else's horizons! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!" Kenneth Grahame real sight next-week It is the restrictions placed on vice by our social code which makes its pursuit so peculiarly agreeable. Kenneth Grahame restriction vices social Well, well, perhaps I am a bit of a talker. A popular fellow such as I am -- my friends get round me -- we chaff, we sparkle, we tell witty stories -- and somehow my tongue gets wagging. I have the gift of conversation. I've been told I ought to have a salon, whatever that may be. Kenneth Grahame stories may witty Don't, for goodness' sake, keep on saying 'Don't'; I hear so much of it, and it's monotonous, and makes me tired. Kenneth Grahame tired sake complaining Why can't fellows be allowed to do what they like when they like and as they like, instead of other fellows sitting on banks and watching them all the time and making remarks and poetry and things about them? Kenneth Grahame remarks critics sitting An errant May-fly swerved unsteadily athwart the current in the intoxicated fashion affected by young bloods of May-flies seeing life. A swirl of water and a 'cloop!' and the May-fly was visible no more Kenneth Grahame fashion sea blood The river , corrected the Rat, It's my world...What it hasn't got is not worth having. Kenneth Grahame fishing sea rivers Footprints in the snow have been unfailing provokers of sentiment ever since snow was first a white wonder in this drab-coloured world of ours. Kenneth Grahame white snow world