Kenneth Grahame

“There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Witty #Sailing #Half

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Holiday #Vacation #Busy

“Badger hates Society, and invitations, and dinner, and all that sort of thing.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Hate #Dinner #Badgers

“The smell of that buttered toast simply spoke to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cozy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Morning #Cat #Winter

“Come along inside... We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Tea #Buns #World

“Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing!”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Travel #Today #Horizon

“There he got out the luncheon-basket and packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Sunshine #Simple #Long

“There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Ems #Done #Half

“The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the label on one of the beer-bottles. "I perceive this to be Old Burton," he remarked approvingly. "Sensible Mole! The very thing! Now we shall be able to mull some ale. Get the things ready, Mole, while I draw the corks."”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Beer #Rats #Able

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Morning #Sky #Saws

“Secrets had an immense attraction to him, because he never could keep one, and he enjoyed the sort of unhallowed thrill he experienced when he went and told another animal, after having faithfully promised not to.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Animal #Secret #Thrill

“It is the restrictions placed on vice by our social code which makes its pursuit so peculiarly agreeable.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Code

“"Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad. . . . "The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today - in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped- always somebody else's horizons! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!"”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Real #Sight #Cities

“Nice? It's the ONLY thing, said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... he went on dreamily: messing about... in... boats; messing..”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Nice #Believe #Water

“In midmost of the stream, embraced in the weir's shimmering arm-spread, a small island lay anchored, fringed close with willow and silver birch and alder. Reserved, shy, but full of significance, it hid whatever it might hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour should come, and, with the hour, those who were called and chosen.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Islands #Shy #Veils

“Brain against brute force - and brain came out on the top - as its bound to do.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Brain #Force #Brute Force

“A careful inspection showed them that, even if they succeeded in righting it by themselves, the cart would travel no longer. The axles were in a hopeless state, and the missing wheel was shattered into pieces.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Missing #Wheels #Pieces

“The River... It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing. Lord! the times we've had together!”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Knowing #Rivers #Water

“Animals when in company walk in a proper and sensible manner, in single file, instead of sprawling all across the road and being of no use or support to each other in case of sudden trouble or danger.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Animal #Support #Use

“As a rule, indeed, grown-up people are fairly correct on matters of fact; it is in the higher gift of imagination that they are so sadly to seek.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#People #Imagination #Matter

“You are brave! For my sake, do not be rash!”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Bravery #Brave #Sake

“Why can't fellows be allowed to do what they like when they like and as they like, instead of other fellows sitting on banks and watching them all the time and making remarks and poetry and things about them?”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Sitting #Critics

“Don't, for goodness' sake, keep on saying 'Don't'; I hear so much of it, and it's monotonous, and makes me tired.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Tired #Complaining #Sake

“Well, very long ago, on the spot where the Wild Wood waves now, before ever it had planted itself and grown up to what it now is, there was a city - a city of people, you know. Here, where we are standing, they lived, and walked, and talked, and slept, and carried on their business. Here they stabled their horses and feasted, from here they rode out to fight or drove out to trade. They were a powerful people, and rich, and great builders. They built to last, for they thought their city would last for ever.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Horse #Powerful #Fighting

“Well, well, perhaps I am a bit of a talker. A popular fellow such as I am -- my friends get round me -- we chaff, we sparkle, we tell witty stories -- and somehow my tongue gets wagging. I have the gift of conversation. I've been told I ought to have a salon, whatever that may be.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Witty #Stories #May

“Toad talked big about all he was going to do in the days to come, while stars grew fuller and larger all around them, and a yellow moon, appearing suddenly and silently from nowhere in particular, came to keep them company and listen to their talk.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Stars #Moon #Yellow

“It'll be all right, my fine fellow," said the Otter. "I'm coming along with you, and I know every path blindfold; and if there's a head that needs to be punched, you can confidently rely upon me to punch it.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Otters #Needs #Path

“For my life, I confess to you, feels to me today somewhat narrow and circumscribed.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Today #Feels

“It's not the sort of night for bed, anyhow.”
-- Kenneth Grahame

#Night #Bed

“Good, bad, and indifferent - It takes all sorts to make a world.”
-- Kenneth Grahame