Dodie Smith Quotes

And no bathroom on earth will make up for marrying a bearded man you hate.

— Dodie Smith

“Just to be in love seemed the most blissful luxury I had ever known. The thought came to me that perhaps it is the loving that counts, not the being loved in return
that perhaps true loving can never know anything but happiness. For a moment I felt that I had discovered a great truth.”

— Dodie Smith

“He stood staring into the wood for a minute, then said: "What is it about the English countryside - why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?"
He sounded faintly sad. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening - I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die. Then he said I was probably too young to understand him; but I understood perfectly.”

— Dodie Smith

“It is rather exciting to write by moonlight.”

— Dodie Smith

“Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.”

— Dodie Smith

“I know all about the facts of life, and I don't think much of them.”

— Dodie Smith

“I wonder if there isn't a catch about having plenty of money? Does it eventually take the pleasure out of things?”

— Dodie Smith

“Still, looking through the old volumes was soothing, because thinking of the past made the present seem a little less real.”

— Dodie Smith

“The Devil's out of fashion.”

— Dodie Smith

“I have really sinned. I am going to pause now, and sit here on the mound repenting in deepest shame ...”

— Dodie Smith

“I think it [religion] is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.”

— Dodie Smith

Thinking of death
strange, beautiful, terrible and a long way off
made me feel happier than ever.

— Dodie Smith

For I know I shall be interrupted
I shall want to be, really, because life is too exciting to sit still for long.

— Dodie Smith

“I could marry the Devil himself if he had some money.”

— Dodie Smith

“The tea was a comfort - and by that time I more than needed comfort.”

— Dodie Smith

“All I really want to write about is what happened just before he left. But if I let myself start with that I might forget some of the things which came first. And every word he said is of deepest value to me.”

— Dodie Smith

“Walking down Belmotte was the oddest sensation
every step took us deeper into the mist until at last it closed over our heads. It was like being drowned in the ghost of water.”

— Dodie Smith

“Topaz was wonderfully patient - but sometimes I wonder if it is not only patience, but also a faint resemblance to cows.”

— Dodie Smith

It made no difference. Just to be in love
seemed the most blissful luxury I had ever known. The thought came to me that perhaps it is the loving that counts, not the being loved in return - that perhaps true loving can never know anything but true happiness.

— Dodie Smith

“I was so happy that I wanted to be kind to everyone in the world.”

— Dodie Smith

“But it is always dreadful when the pictures in front of one's eyes become meaningless and the real word is there instead and seems meaningless, too.”

— Dodie Smith

“Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them.”

— Dodie Smith

“As long as I live I shall remember that silent minute.”

— Dodie Smith

“How can a young man like to wear a beard?”

— Dodie Smith

“Simon: You always were wise beyond your years.
Cassandra: No I wasn't. I used to be consciously naive.”

— Dodie Smith

I couldn't make it out - why you ever let me, I mean. I understand now. Things like that happen when you're in love with the wrong person. Worse things. Things you never forgive yourself for.

— Dodie Smith

“Things you let yourself imagine happening, never do happen.”

— Dodie Smith

“He talked quite naturally while we ate - about the difficulty of finding words to describe the luminous mist, and why one has the desire to describe beauty.
"Perhaps it's an attempt to possess it," I said.
"Or be possessed by it; perhaps that's the same thing, really. I suppose it's the complete identification with beauty one's seeking."
The mist grew brighter and brighter.”

— Dodie Smith

“I'm wondering. Shall we say its perfect for the sea and the sunlight - and the other Rose is perfect for candlelight? And perhaps what's most perfect of all is to find there are several Roses?”

— Dodie Smith

It is the still, yellow kind of afternoon when one is apt to get stuck in a dream if one sits very quiet

— Dodie Smith

“I could see he was nervous; at least, I thought I could, but then it struck me how little I know of him, or of Topaz or Rose or anyone in the world, really, except myself.”

— Dodie Smith

“But her voice sounded wistful. It is one of her theories that a woman must never be jealous, never try to hold man against his will; but I could tell that she hadn't enjoyed seeing someone else bring father to life.”

— Dodie Smith

It was so nice that Simon was here for it - tell him I enjoyed every minute - ' it was glorious writing that - almost like telling him I was glad he'd kissed me. But after I'd posted the letter I was worried in case he guessed what I'd meant.

— Dodie Smith

“I felt as I did once when Rose had very bad toothache - that it was callous of me to be so separate from the pain, that just being sorry for suffering people isn't enough.”

— Dodie Smith

“Now, carols are always beautiful, but if you are sad they can make you feel sadder. (There are some people who always find beauty makes them feel sadder, which is a very mysterious thing.)”

— Dodie Smith

I stood there ringing the bell and banging on the door, feeling I could make someone be there, knowing all the time that I couldn't.

— Dodie Smith

“Not in the least," I said. "I understand everything you've said. But - oh, Simon, I feel so resentful! Why should father make things so difficult? Why can't he say what he means plainly?" "Because there's so much that just can't be said plainly. Try describing what beauty is - plainly - and you'll see what I mean." Then he said that art could state very little - that its whole business was to evoke responses. And that without innovations and experiments - such as father's - all art would stagnate. "That's why one ought not to let oneself resent them - though I believe it's a normal instinct, probably due to subconscious fear of what we don't understand.”

— Dodie Smith

The vague expression was gone from his eyes - I had a feeling it was gone forever.

— Dodie Smith

“And suddenly all the puppies were her puppies; she was their mother-just as Pongo had felt he was their father.”

— Dodie Smith

“I could never explain how the image and the reality merge, and how they somehow extend and beautify each other.”

— Dodie Smith

“As she only cries about once a year I really ought to have gone over and comforted her, but I wanted to set it all down here. I begin to see that writers are liable to become callous.”

— Dodie Smith

“In addition, I think religion has a chance of a look-in whenever the mind craves solace in music or poetry
in any form of art at all. Personally, I think it is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communication all the other arts attempt.”

— Dodie Smith

“I really am just as discontented, but I don't seem to notice it so much.”

— Dodie Smith

“No, that was my privilege.”

— Dodie Smith

“Said, because he was at the British Museum.”

— Dodie Smith

What a tiny list of friends I have! All my fault. I less and less want to see people.

— Dodie Smith

“Ham with mustard is a meal of glory”

— Dodie Smith

“I wanted to know more about the young ... strange that though they laughed so loud, they so seldom smiled. Perhaps laughter was involuntary whereas smiling was part of an attitude to life.”

— Dodie Smith

It's a beautiful sight to see good dancers doing simple steps. It's a painful sight to see beginners doing complicated patterns.

— Dodie Smith

“Many dogs can understand almost every word humans say, while humans seldom learn to recognize more than half a dozen barks, if that. And barks are only a small part of the dog language. A wagging tail can mean so many things. Humans know that it means a dog is pleased, but not what a dog is saying about his pleasedness.”

— Dodie Smith