The Solitary Summer

“What a blessing it is to love books.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“If one believed in angels one would feel that they must love us best when we are asleep and cannot hurt each other; and what a mercy it is that once in every twenty-four hours we are too utterly weary to go on being unkind.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“I'm so glad I didn't die on the various occasions I have earnestly wished I might, for I would have missed a lot of lovely weather.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“Books have their idiosyncrasies as well as people, and will not show me their full beauties unless the place and time in which they are read suits them.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“On wet days I will go into the thickest parts of the forest, where the pine needles are everlastingly dry, and when the sun shines I'll lie on the heath and see how the broom flares against the clouds. I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“Nor would I willingly miss the early darkness and the pleasant firelight tea and the long evenings among my books.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim

“In the evening, when everything is tired and quiet, I sit with Walt Whitman by the rose beds and listen to what that lonely and beautiful spirit has to tell me of night, sleep, death, and the stars. This dusky, silent hour is his; and this is the time when I can best hear the beatings of that most tender and generous heart.””

— Elizabeth Von Arnim