Home > Work > The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1)
1 " This memory was both happy and sad: happy because it was so pleasant, and sad because it made Penelope think about how much she missed Swanburne--the girls, the teachers, Miss Mortimer. Or perhaps it was her own much younger self, that pint-sized person whom she could never be again, whom she missed. It was hard to say. "
― Maryrose Wood , The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1)
2 " All books are judged by their covers until they are read. "
3 " I will have the children read Hamlet as soon as it is practical. There are some useful cautions against eavesdropping to be gleaned from that. "
4 " Penelope had read several novels about such governesses in preparation for her interview and found them chock-full of useful information, although she had no intention of developing romantic feelings for the charming, penniless tutor at a neighboring estate. Or - heaven forbid! - for the darkly handsome, brooding, and extravagantly wealthy master of her own household. Lord Frederick Ashton was newly married in any case, and she had no inkling what his complexion might be "
5 " If it were easy to resist, it would not be called chocolate cake. "
6 " Clearly, being anxious is a full-time and rather exhausting occupation. "
7 " When the impossible becomes merely difficult, that's when you know you've won." - Agatha Swanburne "
8 " A well-organized stocking drawer is the first step toward a well-organized mind. "
9 " If you have ever opened a can of worms, boxed yourself into a corner, ended up in hot water, or found yourself in a pretty pickle, you already know that life is rarely (if ever) just a bowl of cherries. "
10 " No hopeless case is truly without hope." - Agatha Swanburne "
11 " Complaining doesn't butter the biscuit" -Agatha Swanburne "
12 " Nothing good was ever learned from eavesdropping, so mind your business and let others mind theirs. "
13 " That which can be purchases at a shop is easily left in a taxi; that which you carry inside you is difficult, though not impossible, to misplace" -Agatha Swanburne "
14 " I supposed this is what is meant by 'growing up'...Find out the difference between what one expected one's life would be like and how things really are" -Lady Constance "
15 " If you have ever opened a can of worms, boxed yourself into a corner, ended up in hot water, or found yourself in a pretty pickle, you already know that life is rarely (if ever) just a bowl of cherries. It is far more likely to be a bowl of problems, worries, and difficulties. This is normal and should not be cause for alarm. "
16 " In this way Penelope's happy and sad feelings got all mixed up together, until they were not unlike one of those delicious cookies they have nowadays, the ones with a flat circle of sugary cream sandwiched between two chocolate-flavored wafers. In her heart she felt a soft, hidden core of sweet melancholy nestled inside crisp outer layers of joy, and if that is not the very sensation most people feel at some point or other during the holidays, then one would be hard pressed to say what is. "
17 " There is no alarm clock like embarrassment, "
18 " This practice of overstating the case is called hyperbole. Hyperbole is usually harmless, but in some cases it has been known to precipitate unnecessary wars as well as a painful gaseous condition called stock market bubbles. For safety's sake, then, hyperbole should be used with restraint and only by those with proper literary training. "
19 " She had chosen Dante because she found the rhyme scheme pleasingly jaunty, but she realized too late that the Inferno's tale of sinners being cruelly punished in the afterlife was much too bloody and disturbing to be suitable for young minds. Penelope could tell this by the way the children hung on her every word and demanded "More, more!" each time she reached the end of a canto and tried to stop. "
20 " This practice of overstating the case is called hyperbole. Hyperbole is usually harmless, but in some cases it has been known to precipitate unnecessary wars as well as a painful gaseous condition called stock market bubbles. "
