Anna Sewell Quotes

“If you in the morning Throw minutes away, You can’t pick them up In the course of a day. You may hurry and scurry, And flurry and worry, You’ve lost them forever, Forever and aye.”

“It is good people who make good places.”

“Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?... It is because people think only about their own business, and won’t trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doers to light... My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

“If they strain me up tight, why, let ‘em look out! I can’t bear it, and I won’t.”

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

“He said cruelty was the devil’s own trade-mark, and if we saw any one who took pleasure in cruelty we might know who he belonged to, for the devil was a murderer from the beginning, and a tormentor to the end. On the other hand, where we saw people who loved their neighbors, and were kind to man and beast, we might know that was God’s mark.”

“If we could act a little more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many things work easier.”

“They always think they can improve upon Nature and mend what God has made.”

“There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham—all a sham, James, and it won’t stand when things come to be turned inside out.”

“I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play.”

“We shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be towards man or towards beast.”

“I hope you will fall into good hands, but a horse never knows who may buy him, or who may drive him.”

“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees.”

“Good Luck is rather particular who she rides with, and mostly prefers those who have got common sense and a good heart; at least that is my experience.”

“They’ll soon take you away, and I shall lose the only friend I have, and most likely we shall never see each other again. ‘Tis a hard world!”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way.”

“Now look, for instance, at the way they serve dogs, cutting off their tails to make them look plucky, and shearing up their pretty little ears to a point to make them look sharp.”

“I said, ‘I have heard people talk about war as if it was a very fine thing.’ ‘Ah!’ said [Captain], ‘I should think they never saw it. No doubt it is very fine when there is no enemy, when it is just exercise and parade, and sham-fight. Yes, it is very fine then; but when thousands of good brave men and horses are killed, or crippled for life, it has a very different look.’ ‘Do you know what they fought about?’ said I. ‘No,’ he said, ‘that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked people, if it was right to go all that way over the sea on purpose to kill them.”

“Oh! if people knew what a comfort to a horse a light hand is...”

“My troubles are over, and I am finally home.”

“We horses must take things as they come, and always be contented and willing so long as we are kindly used.”

“She’ll be as good as Black Beauty by and bye. Kindness is all the physic she wants, poor thing!”

“I wouldn’t vex our people for anything; I love them, I do.”

“It seems that horses have no relations; at least, they never know each other after they are sold.”

“I shall miss you very much, James, but we shall pull through, and there’s nothing like doing a kindness when ‘tis put in your way, and I am glad I can do it.”

“Why don’t they cut their own children’s ears into points to make them look sharp? Why don’t they cut the end off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God’s creatures?”

“The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master’s house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.”

″‘Tis a mockery to tell a man that he must not overwork his horse, for when a beast is downright tired there’s nothing but the whip that will keep his legs a-going; you can’t help yourself—you must put your wife and children before the horse; the masters must look to that, we can’t. I don’t ill-use my horse for the sake of it; none of you can say I do. There’s wrong lays somewhere—never a day’s rest, never a quiet hour with the wife and children. I often feel like an old man, though I’m only forty-five.”

“To my dear and honored Mother, whose life, no less than her pen, has been devoted to the welfare of others, this little book is affectionately dedicated.”

“If we could act a little more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many things work easier.”

“Work and I are very good friends; I never was afraid of work yet.”

“God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves; but he had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men.”

“I have heard men say that seeing is believing; but I should say that feeling is believing; for much as I had seen before, I never knew till now the utter misery of a cab-horse’s life.”

“To my mind, fashion is one of the wickedest things in the world.”

Since then I have seen many horses much alarmed and restive at the sight or sound of a steam engine; but thanks to my good master’s care, I am as fearless at railway stations as in my own stable.

“There are good thoughtful men like our master, that any horse may be proud to serve; and there are bad, cruel men, who never ought to have a horse or dog to call their own.”

“My name is Merrylegs. I am very handsome; I carry the young ladies on my back, and sometimes I take our mistress out in the low chair. They think a great deal of me, and so does James. Are you going to live next door to me in the box?”

“Yes,” she said, “he is really quite a beauty, and he has such a sweet, good-tempered face, and such a fine, intelligent eye--what do you say to calling him Black Beauty?”

“I never had any one, horse or man, that was kind to me, or that I cared to please...”

“If he had been civil I would have tried to bear it. I was willing to work, and ready to work hard too; but to be tormented for nothing but their fancies angered me.”

“I would have given those boys a good kick, and that would have given them a lesson.”

“Besides, those children are under my charge when they are riding; I tell you they are intrusted to me.”

″...but I can tell you good places make good horses.”

“No, no! you never had a good place where they were kind to you, and so you don’t know, and I’m sorry for you”

″...and by giving way to such passion you injure your own character as much, nay more, than you injure your horse;”

“No, my dear; but if your Black Beauty had not been wiser than we were we should all have been carried down the river at the wooden bridge.”

“I can trust his word and I can trust his work; he is gentle and clever with the horses, and I would rather have them in charge with him than with half the young fellows I know of in laced hats and liveries;”

“Well, sir, it is young; but he is as steady as a man, and is strong, and well grown, and though he has not had much experience in driving, he has a light firm hand and a quick eye, and he is very careful, and I am quite sure no horse of his will be ruined for want of having his feet and shoes looked after.”

“Yes, he is small, but he is quick and willing, and kind-hearted, too, and then he wishes very much to come, and his father would like it; and I know the master would like to give him the chance.

“Then,” said James, “you don’t hold with that saying, ‘Everybody look after himself, and take care of number one’?

“You have been my best friend except my mother; I hope you won’t forget me.”

“Black Beauty will go till he drops.”

“My poor Beauty,” my good horse, you saved your mistress’ life, Beauty; yes, you saved her life.

Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody’s business to interfere when they see it;

“Many young animals are frightened and spoiled by wrong treatment, which need not be if the right man took them in hand.”

“I always get on well with horses, and if I could help some of them to a fair start I should feel as if I was doing some good.”

“The black one is the most perfect temper I ever knew; I suppose he has never known a hard word or a blow since he was foaled, and all his pleasure seems to be to do what you wish;”

“My dear cousin,” said Lady Anne, laughing, “pray do not trouble your good careful head about me. I have been a horsewoman ever since I was a baby, and I have followed the hounds a great many times, though I know you do not approve of ladies hunting; but still that is the fact, and I intend to try this Lizzie that you gentlemen are all so fond of; so please help me to mount, like a good friend as you are.”

“And so,” she said, “here we are, ruined in the prime of our youth and strength, you by a drunkard, and I by a fool; it is very hard.”

“but what I care most for is that these horses of my old friend, who thought they would find a good home with me, are ruined.”

“Jerry kept us very clean, and gave us as much change of food as he could, and always plenty of it; and not only that, but he always gave us plenty of clean fresh water, which he allowed to stand by us both night and day, except of course when we came in warm.”

However, at last it came to an end, and we were hauled up, and swung over again to the land; we were very glad, and snorted and neighed for joy, when we once more felt firm ground under our feet.

“I, with my noble master, went into many actions together without a wound; and though I saw horses shot down with bullets, pierced through with lances, and gashed with fearful saber-cuts; though we left them dead on the field, or dying in the agony of their wounds, I don’t think I feared for myself. My master’s cheery voice, as he encouraged his men, made me feel as if he and I could not be killed.”

“I had such perfect trust in him that while he was guiding me I was ready to charge up to the very cannon’s mouth.”

“I never saw my dear master again. I believe he fell dead from the saddle. I never loved any other master so well.”

“No,” he said, “that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked people, if it was right to go all that way over the sea on purpose to kill them.”

“And there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men that I think would make me feel rather queer if I was one of them.”

I read that God made man, and he made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them He made a day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me;

“I am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly so fast.”

“If a man gives way to his temper, and speaks evil of his neighbor, and does not pay his debts, he is not religious, I don’t care how much he goes to church.”

“Real religion is the best and truest thing in the world, and the only thing that can make a man really happy or make the world we live in any better.”

“every man must look after his own soul;”

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without;”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

“You know that’s true, and if the horses don’t work we must starve, and I and my children have known what that is before now.”

“You that have your own horses and cabs, or drive for good masters, have a chance of getting on and a chance of doing right; I haven’t.”

“I did once, but it’s no use; men are strongest, and if they are cruel and have no feeling, there is nothing that we can do, but just bear it--bear it on and on to the end.”

“I wish the end was come, I wish I was dead.”

“We horses do not mind hard work if we are treated reasonably,”

“Well, a man who gets rich by that trade may be all very well in some ways, but he is blind as to what workingmen want; I could not in my conscience send him up to make the laws. I dare say they’ll be angry, but every man must do what he thinks to be the best for his country.”

“My boy, I hope you will always defend your sister, and give anybody who insults her a good thrashing--that is as it should be;”

“My boy, Liberty does not come from colors, they only show party, and all the liberty you can get out of them is, liberty to get drunk at other people’s expense, liberty to ride to the poll in a dirty old cab, liberty to abuse any one that does not wear your color, and to shout yourself hoarse at what you only half-understand--that’s your liberty!”

“An election is a very serious thing; at least it ought to be, and every man ought to vote according to his conscience, and let his neighbor do the same.”

but it seems to me that the innocent always suffer;

“I had hard work at it for several weeks; you see I never did get drunk, but I found that I was not my own master, and that when the craving came on it was hard work to say ‘no’.

″...sometimes I had to say over and over to myself, ‘Give up the drink or lose your soul! Give up the drink or break Polly’s heart!‘”

“but while there’s life there’s hope, so you must keep up your spirits.”

“Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says we are all to go and live near her. There is a cottage now empty that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and apple-trees, and everything! and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then she will want father in his place; and there are good families round, where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a page-boy; and there’s a good school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns, and father does look so happy!”

“I have heard men say that seeing is believing; but I should say that feeling is believing; for much as I had seen before, I never knew till now the utter misery of a cab-horse’s life.”

“but he is improving so steadily that I think we shall see a change for the better in the spring.”

I could not say that I remembered him, for now he was a fine grown young fellow, with black whiskers and a man’s voice, but I was sure he knew me, and that he was Joe Green, and I was very glad. I put my nose up to him, and tried to say that we were friends. I never saw a man so pleased.