Quotes by Nancy E. Turner

We are a noisy and blessed little family

[Children] just cannot be sad too long, it is not in them, as children mourn in little bits here and there like patchwork in their lives.

Mama said its probably because of Suzanne, and that you are never the same after a child dies. That made me wonder what she was like before Clover died, because I dont think I really knew my own mother until I had children, and if she was different before, I dont remember.

We have talked about Suzy and about her last days, but its as if our lives stopped then and there. If I say anything to him about feeling lonesome, he goes outside and does some little chore. I cant tell if he is secretly blaming me, or himself, or just too full of pain to talk. That was the one thing we could always do together. I wish for the old days. I wish for the struggling days and the days of Geronimo, and the days of birthing Charlie with no one but Jack to help me. How happy and in love we were then. I want to be in love again, but all I feel is darkness and shadows. Everything is changed and different

It seems as if I can only thing if I write my journal, it just connects the part of my head that is busy doing things with the part that is busy thinking about everything else. I know all these pepole are so busy because they love each other and me. We are a noisy crowd of love

One thing I know from living with Jack is that war, any war, stains a man deep, and nothing can get the stain out. They can wear clothes like a rancher or a banker, but the stains are under there, never far from the surface of their skin.

The best thing a girl can be is a good wife and mother. It is a girls highest calling. I hope I am ready.

I told Mama and Savannah about Rubens proposal. That got us to talking about marriage and we laughed and cried some, and missed Papa, and it felt good to belong to each other. I dont feel as lonely today as I have in months. At least I know there are other women around me.

I think my Mama and Savannah must be special people in the Lords eyes, as they have gone about doing generous and loving things without even a second thought. For me, it seems like the only thing that comes natural is aggravation and hard word

Children are a burden to a mother, but not the way a heavy box is to a mule. Our children weight hard on my heart, and thinking about them growing up honest and healthy, or just living to grow up at all, makes a load in my chest that is bigger than the safe at the bank,and more valuable to me than all the gold inside it.

Living is getting knocked down time and again, then standing up time and again, and once more. Its easy to act honorable when things are coming along and all your pastures are green. Plenty difficult when the ground is dried and burned and people have connived to take even that from you. Ill sell this place, or Ill lose it. Ill go on. People who dont have hard times arent living.

At times, its better to think of exactly what is happening right in front of you every second, rather than going through things from the past in your mind.

...we named her Dorothy Ann. Dolly, for short. I kissed her warily, fearful of the pain of loving her, love her, though love her I did; fearful lest she hurt me by dying.

And he likes to torment me, and laughs when I get upset when he does. No, of course not. I do not love Jack Elliot. He is low and coarse and a soldier, and not the kind of man I want to spend my life with.

Well, there is rough old Albert, as ornery as any big brother a girl could have, putting his arm around Savannah and cooing to her like a repenting hound dog, and promising her she is not common nor shameful. I watched all this and thought you just never know sometimes whats in a mans heart. When you think he is all tough nails and boards he can be different on the inside. It makes me wonder about other men I know, too.

I realized that poverty was a kind of captivity.

I have a deep-down belief that there are folks in the world who are good through and through, and others who came in mean and will go out mean. Its like coffee. Once its roasted, it all looks brown. Until you pour hot water on it and see what comes out. Folks get into hot water, you see what comes out.

Was he he handsome? she asked with a sly smirk.Very. He is still, I think.The devil, they say, goes about in finery.And if you believe Beelzebub is as cunning as he is attractive, then I think we have found him.

How is it possible for me to feel so young and so old at the same time?

I never miss Meeting now, I said. Do not look surprised. I have sent many a prayer heavenward on your behalf. And your father is not home yet. Your uncle sails under more danger of his own making. There is more to living in a town than I knew when you were young. Things have happened. It is important to go and to give to the poor and to keep in good graces with all who know us.But you always said to trust your own heart.That is true, son. I do not do this for trickery but to make myself known. If people have your acquaintance and friendship, they are not so quick to believe falsity.