“The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”
“Grandma is surprised when she sees the bag. ‘Sweetheart, what is this?’ ‘Potatoes? No wonder it was heavy. But sweetie, you were supposed to buy beans. A bag of beans. ‘Beans! That’s what I said. I said I wanted beans, but she gave me potatoes anyway.’ ‘She gave you potatoes even though you asked for beans? What kind of person is she!”
“With Albert riding me, there was no hanging on the reins, no jerking on the bit in my mouth; a gentle squeeze with the knees and a touch with his heels was enough to tell me what he wanted of me. I think he could have ridden even without that, so well did we come to understand each other.”
“Something darkened in me because I saw that dad was shattered. I didn’t want a shattered father. I want him whole, present, affectionate, loving. I still want that.”
″‘Don’t you ever want to leave here, Merricat?’
‘Where could we go?’ I asked her. ‘What place would be better for us than this? Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people.‘”
“He’s my relation, and of course you have to like your relations; and besides, he’s been very kind to me. When a person does so many things for you, and wants you to have everything you wish for, of course you’d like him if he wasn’t your relation; but when he’s your relation and does that, why, you’re very fond of him.”
″‘You could have had anything else in the world, and you asked for me.’
She smiled up at him. Filthy as he was, covered in blood and dirt, he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
‘But I don’t want anything else in the world.‘”
″‘I want to go to art school and learn commercial art, but Dad wants me to be a barrister.’
‘That’s like me,’ put in Jeremy. ‘I want to study music, but I’ve got to go into father’s office.‘”
“A longing caressed him, and it was so sharp that he wanted to cry to get it out of his breast. He lay down in the green grass near the round tub at the brush line. He covered his eyes with his crossed arms and lay there a long time, and he was full of a nameless sorrow.”
“Because I don’t want you coming against your will. That wouldn’t be fair. I really want you to come, but if you said, Josie, I don’t want to, then I’d say to Mom, okay, we can’t have her, no way.”