Pollyanna Grows Up quotes
The lines readers remember from Pollyanna Grows Up, by Eleanor H. Porter.
14 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
Nice things are nicer when you’ve been worrying for fear they won’t be nice, aren’t they?
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Oh, how perfectly lovely! That’s even nicer than I thought it could be. I’d worried for fear I couldn’t ever come again, after today, you see. I’m glad now, though, that I didn’t know it just at the first, for it’s all the nicer now.
Nice things are nicer when you’ve been worrying for fear they won’t be nice, aren’t they?
”
“That the lonesomest place in all the world is in a crowd in a big city.”
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“Yes, I see,” nodded the girl, falling back into her old listlessness. “But, poor little kid, it’s too bad you should find it out—so soon.”
“That the lonesomest place in all the world is in a crowd in a big city.”
“Is it? I don’t see how it can be. I don’t see how you can be lonesome when you’ve got folks all around you. Still—” she hesitated, and the frown deepened. “I was lonesome this afternoon, and there were folks all around me;
“Well, anyway, I can be glad he doesn’t always act like this,” sighed the little girl
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Jimmy had suddenly come back to the present, and to his grievance. “But, then, I ain’t ‘Jamie,’ you know,” he finished with scornful emphasis, as he turned loftily away, leaving a distressed, bewildered Pollyanna behind him.
“Well, anyway, I can be glad he doesn’t always act like this,” sighed the little girl
, as she mournfully watched the sturdy, boyish figure with its disagreeable, amazing swagger.
The instrument that you play on, Pollyanna, will be the great heart of the world; and to me that seems the most wonderful instrument of all—to learn.
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“
The instrument that you play on, Pollyanna, will be the great heart of the world; and to me that seems the most wonderful instrument of all—to learn.
Under your touch, if you are skilful, it will respond with smiles or tears, as you will.”
Well, you see, auntie, clocks are accommodating things, when you stop to think about it.
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“
Well, you see, auntie, clocks are accommodating things, when you stop to think about it.
I found that out long ago at the Sanatorium.
I know; but, you see, dear, never before had the other man wanted her mother,
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“
I know; but, you see, dear, never before had the other man wanted her mother,
” sighed Pollyanna, her face puckered into an anxious frown.
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I: Della Speaks Her Mind
“Pollyanna isn’t a medicine, my dear,” she said demurely, “—though I have heard some people call her a tonic. Pollyanna is a little girl.”
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Della Wetherby’s eyes danced, but her lips remained unsmiling.
“Pollyanna isn’t a medicine, my dear,” she said demurely, “—though I have heard some people call her a tonic. Pollyanna is a little girl.”
“A child? Well, how should I know,” retorted the other, still aggrievedly. “You have your ‘belladonna,’ so I’m sure I don’t see why not ‘pollyanna.’
II: Some Old Friends
“Why, Aunt Polly, so I didn’t! And that means that down to Boston there are some Jimmys and Mr. Pendletons and Mrs. Snows waiting for me that I don’t know, doesn’t it?”
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Pollyanna gave a sudden smile.
“Why, Aunt Polly, so I didn’t! And that means that down to Boston there are some Jimmys and Mr. Pendletons and Mrs. Snows waiting for me that I don’t know, doesn’t it?”
“Then I can be glad of that. I believe now, Aunt Polly, you know how to play the game better than I do. I never thought of the folks down there waiting for me to know them. And there’s such a lot of ’em, too!
IV: The Game and Mrs. Carew
“Oh, Mrs. Carew, I’ve just been thinking how glad I am we don’t have to live but just one day at a time!”
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Not until they were nearly home did she fervently breathe:
“Oh, Mrs. Carew, I’ve just been thinking how glad I am we don’t have to live but just one day at a time!”
Mrs. Carew frowned and looked down sharply. Mrs. Carew was in no mood for preaching. She had just been obliged to endure it from the pulpit, she told herself angrily, and she would not listen to it from this chit of a child.
V: Pollyanna Takes a Walk
Nice things are nicer when you’ve been worrying for fear they won’t be nice, aren’t they?
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Oh, how perfectly lovely! That’s even nicer than I thought it could be. I’d worried for fear I couldn’t ever come again, after today, you see. I’m glad now, though, that I didn’t know it just at the first, for it’s all the nicer now.
Nice things are nicer when you’ve been worrying for fear they won’t be nice, aren’t they?
”
“That the lonesomest place in all the world is in a crowd in a big city.”
Show the passage
“Yes, I see,” nodded the girl, falling back into her old listlessness. “But, poor little kid, it’s too bad you should find it out—so soon.”
“That the lonesomest place in all the world is in a crowd in a big city.”
“Is it? I don’t see how it can be. I don’t see how you can be lonesome when you’ve got folks all around you. Still—” she hesitated, and the frown deepened. “I was lonesome this afternoon, and there were folks all around me;
XIII: A Waiting and a Winning
“Oh, yes! Why, you—care, now!”
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For what seemed a long, long minute his eyes had searched her face; then to his own had come a transfiguring light, as he breathed:
“Oh, yes! Why, you—care, now!”
XIV: Jimmy and the Green-Eyed Monster
“Well, anyway, I can be glad he doesn’t always act like this,” sighed the little girl
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Jimmy had suddenly come back to the present, and to his grievance. “But, then, I ain’t ‘Jamie,’ you know,” he finished with scornful emphasis, as he turned loftily away, leaving a distressed, bewildered Pollyanna behind him.
“Well, anyway, I can be glad he doesn’t always act like this,” sighed the little girl
, as she mournfully watched the sturdy, boyish figure with its disagreeable, amazing swagger.
XVIII: A Matter of Adjustment
“There couldn’t be. I’ve got a mirror, you see,”
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“Not pretty, eh?” smiled Pendleton, quizzically. “Did it ever—er—occur to you that there might be a difference of opinion on that, Pollyanna?”
“There couldn’t be. I’ve got a mirror, you see,”
she objected, with a merry glance.
I tell you, troubles are poor things to hug. They’ve got too many prickers.
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Meanwhile, just thinking of the doughnut instead of the hole couldn’t make things any worse for him, and it might make things better; for it wouldn’t give him such a gone feeling in the pit of his stomach, and his digestion would be better.
I tell you, troubles are poor things to hug. They’ve got too many prickers.
”
XXII: Comrades
The instrument that you play on, Pollyanna, will be the great heart of the world; and to me that seems the most wonderful instrument of all—to learn.
Show the passage
“
The instrument that you play on, Pollyanna, will be the great heart of the world; and to me that seems the most wonderful instrument of all—to learn.
Under your touch, if you are skilful, it will respond with smiles or tears, as you will.”
XXIII: “Tied to Two Sticks”
Don’t you suppose it hurts to see a thing like that and not be able to do anything? To be tied, helpless, to a pair of sticks? I tell you there’s no hurt in all the world to equal it!
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“Hurt? Am I hurt?” he choked huskily, flinging out both his hands. “
Don’t you suppose it hurts to see a thing like that and not be able to do anything? To be tied, helpless, to a pair of sticks? I tell you there’s no hurt in all the world to equal it!
”
XXVII: The Day Pollyanna Did Not Play
Well, you see, auntie, clocks are accommodating things, when you stop to think about it.
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“
Well, you see, auntie, clocks are accommodating things, when you stop to think about it.
I found that out long ago at the Sanatorium.
Honestly, it would be a real relief if you wouldn’t be glad for something, sometime!
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“And it’s a very good game, too; but I think you carry it altogether too far. This eternal doctrine of ‘it might be worse’ has got on my nerves, Pollyanna.
Honestly, it would be a real relief if you wouldn’t be glad for something, sometime!
”
XXIX: Jimmy and John
I know; but, you see, dear, never before had the other man wanted her mother,
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“
I know; but, you see, dear, never before had the other man wanted her mother,
” sighed Pollyanna, her face puckered into an anxious frown.
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