streets Quotes

“We pile onto the street and shoot out a riot of looks and hunches, we sniff about, hook up our notions, pace our minds up and down the street, and wait for something to happen- because something always will.”

“Was there nothing to look at...no people to greet?Did nothing excite you or make your heart beat?”

“It was raining in the garden. Mog thought, ‘Perhaps the sun is shining in the street’. When the milkman came she ran out. The milkman shut the door. The sun was not shining in the street after all. It was raining. “

“But then Mrs MacNally’s Maureen had a very good idea. She ran to ask the window cleaner, who was working up the street, if he would bring his ladder and climb up to the bathroom window. And, of course, when the window cleaner heard about Alfie he came hurrying along with his ladder as quickly as he could.”

“Summer is over. The fields and forests are gone, and now there are just streets and cars everywhere. When Rosa and her aunt go out for a walk, Rosa sits down on the sidewalk. Or she lies down and closes her eyes. ”

“The windows and doors of the building have been boarded shut, and each day Alex lowers the rope ladder he has made, to forage for food and fuel. In the streets, he must always be on the alert for the enemy. At night he huddles in a dark cabinet; he’s desolate yet hopeful that soon life will be as before the occupation.”

“He walked up and down the streets, holding himself very straight so as not to upset his caps.”

“Water is used to put fires out. The water runs through the pipes under the street. The firemen attached a hose between the water hydrant and the pumper engine. The pumper engine got water from the hydrant and squirted it out through the hose nozzle.”

“My street is pretty good. I know all the kids. Further on, I still know all the kids, but sometimes they don’t want to know me. Eh, look out! She is here again. That migaloo jaibu, Sharyn. Hanging off her front fence. She’s watching me go past. She’s giving me that smile, that mango-mouth one.”

″ ‘That was a great shot’, says the little boy. ‘The best and longest anyone has kicked on our street.’ ‘Do you really think so?’ says Alfie? Now he is happy, too.”

“And the better in memory to fix the path of the children’s last retreat, they call that place Pied Piper Street, where anyone playing a pipe or drum was driven back the way he’d come; nor did they allow an inn or tavern to spill forth joy on a street so solemn.”

“Once more he stepped into the street and to his lips again laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane. Before he blew three notes (so sweet and soft, and yet so cunning), there was a rustling that seemed like a bustling of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling. Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering, little hands clapping and little tongues chattering, and, like fowls on a farm when barley is scattering, out came the children running.”

“Into the streets the Piper stepped, smiling first a little smile, as if he knew what magic slept in his still pipe all the while, for there his secret spells were kept. Then blowing soft, his lips he wrinkled, and green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled like candle flames where salt is sprinkled.”

“Girls and boys come out to play, The moon it shines as bright as day; Leave your supper, and leave your sleep, And come to your playmates in the street; Come with a whoop, come with a call, Come with a good will, or come not at all; Up the ladder and down the wall, A halfpenny loaf will serve us all.”

“Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the street.”

“For a few moments Abel watched Johnny. Then he stood up, stretching. ‘Well, like I said three weeks ago, it’s time.’ Again he looked at Johnny, crafty this time. ‘Anyhow, I’m going. You stay if you’re chicken. ’

“But then another part of him determined to set off to see if he could find this human crossing-place. The street was on a slight slope, and perhaps because of this Max chose to go in the downhill direction.”

“He played where they were fixing the street and got very dirty.”

“On grim winters’ evenings, when streets are deserted, through the back alleys of Knightsbridge and Kensington, you will see two shadowy figures moving painfully down a dark street.”

“Street Show Puff, puff, puff. How the trumpets blow All you little boys and girls come and see the show. One-two-three, the Cat runs up the tree; But the little Bird he flies away- ‘She hasn’t got me!’ ”