The sea can swallow ships, and it can spit out whales like watermelon seeds. It will take what it wants, and it will keep what it has taken, and you may not take away from it what it does not wish to give. Natalie Babbitt More Quotes by Natalie Babbitt More Quotes From Natalie Babbitt I was born and raised in Ohio. During my childhood, I spent most of my time drawing and reading fairy tales and myths. Natalie Babbitt ohiodrawingreading the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for. Natalie Babbitt dogsorrysummer Like all magnificent things, it's very simple. Natalie Babbitt magnificentsimplephilosophy Living's heavy work, but off to one side the way we are, it's useless, too. It don't make sense. If I knowed how to climb back on the wheel, I'd do it in a minute. You can't have living without dying. So you can't call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road. Natalie Babbitt rocksuselessdying I had a wonderful mother who wanted my sister and me to have everything, even though money was a very prominent thing we didn't have. But we had a very happy childhood - pretty much ideal, in fact. Natalie Babbitt mechildhoodmoneymother I never wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a book illustrator. I used to hurry home from school and draw. Natalie Babbitt neverhomebookschool My husband wrote the story for my first book, but then he didn't want to do that anymore. So if I was going to go on being an illustrator, I had to start writing the stories, too. Natalie Babbitt storystarthusbandbook The first two books that I did by myself were long stories in verse. I knew I could do that because I'd written a lot in verse. But, verse stories are hard to sell, so my editor encouraged me to try writing in prose. Natalie Babbitt myselfmewritinglong We human beings do a lot of dumb things, and war is certainly the dumbest. Natalie Babbitt humanthingsdumbwar I have always loved astronomy, and being an astronomer once lurked in the back of my mind. But I was never good at algebra. In fact, I flunked it twice in high school. Natalie Babbitt lovedgoodmindschool My mother was an artist, and I was fairly good at art as a child. I was always the best drawer in class, except in second grade when an artistic genius passed through our school! Natalie Babbitt bestgoodmotherart I grew up wanting only to be an illustrator. I studied art at Laurel School in Cleveland and at Smith College. Natalie Babbitt onlycollegeartschool I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being. Natalie Babbitt i-amexperiencetimechildren
