Best Of L.M. Montgomery's "Mistress Pat"
Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery
I read this book on my e-reader so I have locations only, not page numbers :)
“The less ye do be belaving the colder life do be."
“All the months are friends of mine but apple month is the dearest,” chanted Pat. It was October at Silver Bush and she and Cuddles and Judy picked apples in the New Part of the orchard every afternoon ...
[...] there were no trees. It seemed an indecency, like a too naked body. Trees ... to veil and caress and beshadow ... trees to warn you back and beckon you on. Lombardies for statelines ... birches for maiden grace ... maples for friendliness ... spruce and fir for mystery ... poplars to whisper secrets.
“It seems to me you’re always too young or too old to do anything you like in this world,” she said scornfully.
And there was beauty, too, everywhere. Sometimes Pat thought the winter woods with their white reserve and fearlessly displayed nakedness seemed the rarest and finest of all. You never knew how beautiful a tree really was until you saw it leafless against a pearl-grey winter sky. And was there ever anything quite so perfect as the birch grove in a pale-rose twilight after a fine calm fall of snow?
Outside it might be a dank and streaming November night but here was the eternal summer of the heart.
She was really looking her best and when, after a rather overlong silence, she raised her eyes to her caller’s she found his dark, soulful orbs ... the adjectives were Aunt Polly’s daughter’s ... gazing down at her with a strange expression in their depths.
Then it was dawn. Very early dawn is a dreary thing. Nothing is quite human. The world is “fey.”
A warm golden light was gleaming out of the kitchen window ... the light of home. It was fascinating to look at the door and realise that by just opening it one could step into beauty and light and love.
I’ve just been lying here, letting my thoughts ripen and grow mellow. I think there’s a caterpillar on my neck, but it doesn’t matter. Even caterpillars have rights.”
It was one of the moments when beauty seemed to flow through her like a river. She surrendered herself utterly to the charm of the time and place. There was no past — no future — nothing but this exquisite present.
My love for you is the best thing ... always has been the best thing ... in my life. It hasn’t made me poorer. On the contrary it has enriched my whole existence and given me the gift of clear vision for the things that matter; it has been a lamp held before my feet whereby I have avoided many pitfalls of baser passions and unworthy dreams. It will always be so.
