Frasi di Frances Hodgson Burnett

“Se guardi nel modo giusto, puoi vedere che il mondo intero è un giardino.”

“Credo che molti non sappiano quanto si celi dietro una storia, quante parti non ne siano state raccontate, quanto di più sia accaduto rispetto a quello che leggono nel libro che tengono fra le mani e in cui si immergono.
Le storie sono un po' come le lettere. Dopo avere scritto una lettera, quante volte si pensa: «Ah, perchè non ho detto questa cosa?». Scrivendo un libro, si racconta ciò che si ricorda in quel momento, e se si dovesse narrare tutto quello che è davvero successo, non si arriverebbe mai alla fine. Fra le righe di una storia c'è sempre un'altra storia, che non è mai stata ascoltata e può solo essere indovinata da chi ha abbastanza intuizione per farlo. La persona che scrive potrà anche non saperne mai niente, ma a volte lo sa, e vorrebbe poter ricominciare da capo.”

“Padrona Mary, bastian contrario,
come cresce il tuo giardino,
con campanule d'argento, con conchiglie
e con una fioritura di giunghiglie?”

“Mary Mary pensieri neri,
come ti viene il giardino?
Margherite gialle fra i peri,
campanule d'argento e lupino.”

“Cose assai sorprendenti possono accadere a chi, avendo nella mente un pensiero sgradevole e scoraggiante, abbia il buonsenso di accorgersene e scacciarlo via in tempo sostituendolo con un altro pensiero piacevole e ottimista. Due cose non possono occupare contemporaneamente lo stesso posto.

Là dove coltivi la rosa, ragazzo mio,
Non può crescere il cardo.”

“Da quando sono nato, non ho mai preso un raffreddore. Sono sempre stato in giro per la brughiera con ogni tempo, come i conigli. La mamma dice che ho respirato troppa aria fresca, in dodici anni, per poter prendere il raffreddore. Sono robusto come il nodo di un ramo di biancospino.”

“She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of and what you do.”

“People never like me and I never like people," she thought. "And I never can talk as the Crawford children could. They were always talking and laughing and making noises.”

“People never like me and I never like people”

“At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago.”

“She made herself stronger by fighting with the wind.”

“She did not care very much for other little girls, but if she had plenty of books she could console herself.”

“I don't know who it is," she said; "but somebody cares for me a little. I have a friend.”

“One marvel of a day he had walked so far that when he returned the moon was high and full and all the world was purple shadow and silver.”

“And this, my lovely child, is your garden.”

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"…
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”

“Everything's a story - You are a story -I am a story.”

“I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses.”

“It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before.”

“Where you tend a rose my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”

“Perhaps to be able to learn things quickly isn't everything. To be kind is worth a great deal to other people… Lots of clever people have done harm and have been wicked.”

“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”

“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow'.”

“I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us”

“Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way - or always to have it.”

“Somehow, something always happens just before things get to the very worst. It is as if Magic did it. If I could only just remember that always. The worse thing never quite comes.”

“Hang in there. It is astonishing how short a time it can take for very wonderful things to happen.”

“Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it.”

“What you have to do with your mind, when your body is miserable, is to make it think of something else.”

“To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in, you may never get over it as long as you live.”

“There's naught as nice as th' smell o' good clean earth, except th' smell o' fresh growin' things when th' rain falls on 'em.”

“I pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.”

“Might I," quavered Mary, "might I have a bit of earth?”

“I don't like it, papa," she said. "But then I dare say soldiers - even brave ones - don't reallygoing into battle.”

“Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off and they are nearly always doing it.”