Flora Thompson Quotes

Flora Thompson shares modest reflections on family gratitude, poverty, and school life, spoken in plain, earnest language.

17 quotes

'Thank God for my good dinner. Thank Father and Mother. Amen' was the grace used in one family, and it certainly had the merit of giving credit where credit was due. - (ch. 1, Poor People's Houses)

#1
'Poverty's no disgrace, but 'tis a great inconvenience' was a common saying among the Lark Rise peole. - (ch. 1, Poor People's Houses)

#2
Other days, other ways; and, although they have now been greatly improved upon, the old country midwives did at least succeed in bringing into the world many generations of our forefathers, or where should we be now? - (ch. 8, 'The Box' )

#3
There was no Victoria in the school...That great name was sacred to the Queen and was not copied by her subjects to the extent imagined by perioid novelists of today. - (ch. 11, School)

#4
The human eye loves to rest upon wide expances of pure colour: the moors in the purple heyday of heather, miles of green downland, and the sea when it lies calm and blue and boundless, all delight it; but to some none of these, lovely though they all are, can give the same satisfaction of spirit as acres upon acres of golden corn. There is both beauty and bread and the seeds of bread for future generations. - (ch. 15, Harvest Home)

#5
Special qualities are required of the essayist. A poem or a novel may spring from the inner consciousness of an author. Reasoning poers must be brought to reinforce imagination.
Any artwork needs time and patience and needs above a quiet mind.
I do not compare the past with the present without a prejudice for either, but, great as the improvement in country life is in many respects, it seems a pity the old cheap, wholesome dishes have gone to make way for tinned and preserved foods.
No age can have everthing and in material ways ours is more fortunate than any preceding one. Our ancestors appear to have mastered the art of living better than we are able to when an easy conscience, largely due to the unshaken faith of the time, left a marging of spiritual energy with which to enjoy life.
We cannot bring the good old days back but, if we must eat mass-made foods, get laws passed to insist upon its goodness and purity.
What greater restoratives have we poor mortals than a good meal taken in the company of loving friends?
So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through. Colour gives way to form: every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky. New vistas, obscured all Summer by leafage, now open up.
Now, with the glamour of the past upon them we are inclined to look back on old world festivities with regret and consider present day dances as a poor substitute for the old. From an artistic point of view, they maybe, but in individual freedom and independence of spirit they mark a stage upward.
Strict honesty was the policy of most of them; although there were a few who were said to 'find anything before 'tis lost' and to whom findings were keepings.
The harvest-home or supper is a thing of the past. To those who feel the fascination of the past this may appear sad, but it is not so really for, even while it existed, this surface goodwill was often an empty show.
Alas! in nature, as in art, we gain only according to our capacity. You cannot put an ocean in a pint pot.
It is the fashion to talk of our changing climate and bewail the hot summers and hard winters of tradition, but how seldom we pause to marvel at the remarkable constancy of the weather from year to year.