{"author":"Dodie Smith","author_id":"Dodie+Smith","total_quotes":69,"quotes":[{"text":"He laughed a little, in an odd, nervous kind of way. 'Because if I don't get going soon, the whole impetus may die--and if that happens, well, I really shall consider a long, restful plunge into insanity. Sometimes the abyss yawns very attractively.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["insanity"],"id":3763,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"My imagination longs to dash ahead and plan developments; but I have noticed that when things happen in one's imagination, they never happen in one's life.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["imagination"],"id":6074,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"Did you think of anything when Miss Marcy said Scoatney Hall was being re-opened? I thought of the beginning of Pride and Prejudice – where Mrs. Bennet says 'Netherfield Park is let a last.' And then Mr. Bennet goes over to call on the rich new owner.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["jane-austen","literature","pride-and-prejudice"],"id":29271,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"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.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["happiness","love"],"id":31807,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"I suddenly knew that religion, God - something beyond everyday life - was there to be found, provided one is really willing. And I saw that though what I felt in the church was only imagination, it was a step on the way; because imagination itself can be a kind of willingness - a pretense that things are real, due to one's longing for them. It struck me that this was somehow tied up with what the Vicar said about religion being an extension of art - and then I had a glimpse of how religion can really cure you of sorrow; somehow make use of it, turn it to beauty, just as art can make sad things beautiful.\tI found myself saying: 'Sacrifice is the secret - you have to sacrifice things for art and it's the same with religion; and then the sacrifice turns out to be a gain.' Then I got confused and I couldn't hold on to what I meant - until Miss Blossom remarked: 'Nonsense, duckie - it's prefectly simple. You lose yourself in something beyond yourself and it's a lovely rest.'I saw that, all right. Then I thought: 'But that's how Miss Marcy cured her sorrow, too - only she lost herself in other people instead of in religion.' Which way of life was best - hers or the Vicar's? I decided that he loves God and merely likes the villagers, whereas she loves the villagers and merely likes God - and then I suddenly wondered if I could combine both ways, love God and my neighbor equally. Was I really willing to?","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["art","god"],"id":34700,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"... There is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love. And most of those minds are shut to what marriage really means.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["marriage"],"id":54724,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"I only want to write. And there's no college for that except life.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["college","life","write"],"id":55764,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"No, that was my privilege.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["gifts","love"],"id":80259,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"Your pain and anger will pass, but the guilt would remain with you for always.","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["guilt"],"id":99298,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"},{"text":"Oh, it was an artful place--it must make people who have money want to spend it madly!","author":"Dodie Smith","tags":["desire","wealth"],"id":101928,"author_id":"Dodie+Smith"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":69,"pages":7,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}