A Girl of the Limberlost

“If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“I know men and women. An honourable man is an honourable man, and a liar is a liar; both are born and not made. One cannot change to the other any more than that same old leopard can change its spots.After a man tells a woman the first untruth of that sort, the others come piling thick, fast, and mountain high.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“...The world is full of happy people but no one ever hears of them. You have to fight and make a scandal to get in the papers. No one knows about all the happy people...””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“There never was a moment in my life, when I felt so in the Presence, as I do now. I feel as if the Almighty were so real, and so near, that I could reach out and touch Him, as I could this wonderful work of His, if I dared. I feel like saying to Him: 'To the extent of my brain power I realize Your presence, and all it is in me to comprehend of Your power. Help me to learn, even this late, the lessons of Your wonderful creations. Help me to unshackle and expand my soul to the fullest realization of Your wonders. Almighty God, make me bigger, make me broader!””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“I do not know why it is the fate of the world always to want something different from what life gives them.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“It was a compound of self-reliance, hard knocks, heart hunger, unceasing work, and generosity. There was no form of suffering with which the girl could not sympathize, no work she was afraid to attempt, no subject she had investigated she did not understand. These things combined to produce a breadth and depth of character altogether unusual.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“But Aunt Margaret doesn't like boys," objected Elnora."Well, she likes me, and I used to be a boy. ...””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“To me, it seems the only pleasure in this world worth having is the joy we derive from living for those we love, and those we can help.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter

“What you are lies with you. If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose, among the only ones who live beyond the grave in this world, the people who write books that help, make exquisite music, carve statues, paint pictures, and work for others. Never mind the calico dress, and the coarse shoes. Work at you books, and before long you will hear yesterday's tormentors boasting that they were once classmates of yours.””

— Gene Stratton-Porter