These are my daughters, I suppose. But where in the world did the children vanish? Phyllis McGinley More Quotes by Phyllis McGinley More Quotes From Phyllis McGinley God knows that a mother needs fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul. But because I happen to be a parent of almost fiercely maternal nature, I praise casualness. It seems to me the rarest of virtues. It is useful enough when children are small. It is useful to the point of necessity when they are adolescents. Phyllis McGinley womenmotherchildren The knowingness of little girls, is hidden underneath their curls. Phyllis McGinley daughtergirlmom Praise is warming and desirable. But it is an earned thing. It has to be deserved, like a hug from a child. Phyllis McGinley hugpraisechildren A bookworm in bed with a new novel and a good reading lamp is as much prepared for pleasure as a pretty girl at a college dance. Phyllis McGinley girlreadingcollege In a successful marriage, there is no such thing as one's way. There is only the way of both, only the bumpy, dusty, difficult, but always mutual path. Phyllis McGinley marriagesuccessfulway The mass of men live lives of quiet exasperation. Phyllis McGinley live-lifequietmen Rain is my lover, my apple strudel. / It haunts my heels like a pedigreed poodle. / Beyond the seas or across the nation, / It follows me faithful on every vacation. Phyllis McGinley vacationraintravel Behind every myth lies a truth; beyond every legend is reality, as radiant (sometimes as chilling) as the story itself. Phyllis McGinley storieslyingreality Children from ten to twenty don't want to be understood. Their whole ambition is to feel strange and alien and misinterpreted so that they can live austerely in some stone tower of adolescence, their privacies unviolated. Phyllis McGinley twentiesambitionchildren There are books that one needs maturity to enjoy just as there are books an adult can come on too late to savor. Phyllis McGinley maturityadultsbook Borrow my umbrellas, my clothes, my money, and I will likely not think of them again. But borrow my books and I will be on your track like a bloodhound until they are returned. Phyllis McGinley clothesbookthinking It's this no-nonsense side of women that is pleasant to deal with. They are the real sportsmen. Phyllis McGinley nonsenserealsides Men can't be trusted with pruning shears any more than they can be trusted with the grocery money in a delicatessen . . . They are like boys with new pocket knives who will not stop whittling. Phyllis McGinley knivesmenboys Women are not men's equals in anything except responsibility. We are not their inferiors, either, or even their superiors. We are quite simply different races. Phyllis McGinley raceresponsibilitymen How happy is the Optimist / To whom life shows its sunny side / His horse may lose, his ship may list, / But he always sees the funny side. Phyllis McGinley optimismhorsemay Wherever conversation's flowing, / Why must I feel it falls on me / To keep things going? Phyllis McGinley feelsconversationfall For the hearts of nurses are solid gold, / But their heels are flat and their hands are cold, / And their voices lilt with a lilt that's falser / Than the smile of an exhibition waltzer. / Yes, nurses can cure you, nurses restore you, / But nurses are bound that they do things for you. Phyllis McGinley voicehearthands Aunts are discreet, a little shy / By instinct. They forbear to pry. Phyllis McGinley auntshylittles To be a housewife is a difficult, a wrenching, sometimes an ungrateful job if it is looked on only as a job. Regarded as a profession, it is the noblest as it is the most ancient of the catalogue. Let none persuade us differently or the world is lost indeed. Phyllis McGinley ungratefuljobsworld I sing Connecticut, her charms / Of rivers, orchards, blossoming ridges. / I sing her gardens, fences, farms, / Spiders and midges. Phyllis McGinley spidersgardenrivers
