Is this the final treachery of time, that the old become a burden upon the young? Winifred Holtby More Quotes by Winifred Holtby More Quotes From Winifred Holtby The things that one most wants to do are the things that are probably most worth doing. Winifred Holtby dreamwant We're so busy resigning ourselves to the inevitable that we don't even ask if it is inevitable. We've got to have courage, to take our future into our hands. If the law is oppressive, we must change the law. If tradition is obstructive, we must break tradition. If the system is unjust, we must reform the system. Winifred Holtby reformlawhands The crown of life is neither happiness nor annihilation; it is understanding. Winifred Holtby crownsunderstandinglife This alone is to be feared - the closed mind, the sleeping imagination, the death of the spirit. The death of the body is to that, I think, a little thing. Winifred Holtby imaginationsleepthinking Question everyone in authority, and see that you get sensible answers to your questions ... questioning does not mean the end of loving, and loving does not mean the abnegation of intelligence. Vow as much love to your country as you like ... but, I implore you, do not forget to question. Winifred Holtby patriotismmeancountry I am much perturbed by this business of sickness. Our bodies seem so easily to leap into the saddle where our minds should be. People who are ill become changelings. Winifred Holtby bodymindpeople A sense of humor is so handy, isn't it? It lets you see both sides of a question so that you never need do anything. Winifred Holtby humorsidesneeds We each live in a private, distorted, individual world - stars turning in space, warmed for a moment by each other's light, then lost in infinite distance. Winifred Holtby distancestarslight But questioning does not mean the end of loving, and loving does not mean the abnegation of intelligence Winifred Holtby endsdoemean Love needs the stiffening of respect, the give and take of equality. Winifred Holtby give-and-takegivingneeds Teachers have power. We may cripple them by petty economics; by Government regulations, by the foolish criticism of an uninformed press; but their power exists for good or evil. Winifred Holtby governmentteachingteacher I find you in all small and lovely things; in the little fishes like flames in the green water, in the furred and stupid softness of bumble-bees fat as laughter, in all the chiming radiance of warmth and light and scent in the summer garden. Winifred Holtby laughterstupidsummer There's never been a lack of men willing to die bravely. The trouble is to find a few able to live sensibly. Winifred Holtby ablemenpeace Oh, time betrays us. Time is the great enemy. Winifred Holtby betraytimeenemy You are quite, quite wrong if you think that ... I find your happiness painful. What matters is that happiness - the golden day - should exist in the world, not much to whom it comes. For all of us it is so transitory a thing, how could one not draw joy from its arrival? Winifred Holtby what-mattershappinessthinking I am fierce for work. Without work I am nothing. Winifred Holtby fiercehard-work The world, with all its beauty and adventure, its richness and variety, is darkened by cruelty. Death, if it ends the loveliness, the adventure, ends also that. Death balances the picture. Winifred Holtby balanceadventureworld it is the brevity of life which makes it tolerable; its experiences have value because they have an end. Winifred Holtby brevity-of-lifetolerableends Nature is not silent, and never was a name more derisively inappropriate than when we speak of these non-human creatures who hoot and crow and bray as the dumb animals. Winifred Holtby dumbnamesanimal Really, trees are nearly as important as men, and much better behaved. Winifred Holtby importanttreemen
