“All remember about my mother," Nibs told them, "is that she often said to my father, 'Oh, how I wish I had a cheque-book of my own!' I don't know what a cheque-book is, but I should just love to give my mother one.”

“Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night”

“A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.”

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”

“David tells me that fairies never say 'We feel happy': what they say is, 'We feel dancey'.”

“The door', replied Maimie, 'will always, always be open, and mother will always be waiting at it for me.”

“It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost the only thing for certain is that there are fairies wherever there are children.”

“See," he said, "the arrow struck against this. It is the kiss I gave her. It has saved her life.”

“Courage is the lovely virtue-the rib of Himself that God sent down to His children.”

“Life is like a cup of coffee: The more avidly you drink of it, the sooner you reach the dregs.”

“Oh, you mysterious girls, when you are fifty-two we shall find you out; you must come into the open then. If the mouth has fallen sourly yours the blame: all the meanness your youth concealed have been gathering in your face. But the pretty thoughts and sweet ways and dear, forgotten kindnesses linger there also, to bloom in your twilight like evening primroses.”