Explore Quotes by James M. Barrie

Times have changed since a certain author was executed for murdering his publisher. They say that when the author was on the scaffold he said good-bye to the minister and to the reporters, and then he saw some publishers sitting in the front row below, and to them he did not say good-bye. He said instead, "I'll see you again."

Because you see when a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies. They live in nests on the tops of trees; and the mauve ones are boys and the white ones are girls, and the blue ones are just little sillies who are not sure what they are.

They hold their great balls in the open air, in what is called a fairy-ring. For weeks afterward you can see the ring on the grass. It is not there when they begin, but they make it by waltzing round and round. Sometimes you will find mushrooms inside the ring, and these are fairy chairs that the servants have forgotten to clear away. The chairs and the rings are the only tell-tale marks these little people leave behind them, and they would remove even these were they not so fond of dancing that they toe it till the very moment of the opening of the gates.

Make your feet your friend.

What is algebra exactly; is it those three-cornered things?

Your heart is as fresh as your face; and that is well. The useless men are those who never change with the years. Many views that I held to in my youth and long afterwards are a pain to me now, and I am carrying away from Thrums memories of errors into which I fell at every stage of my ministry. When you are older you will know that life is a long lesson in humility.

As soon as you can say what you think and not what some other person has thought for you, you are on the way to being a remarkable man.

This meal happened to be a make-believe tea, and they sat round the board guzzling in their greed; and really, what with their chatter and recriminations, the noise, as Wendy said, was positively deafening.

In love-making, as in other arts, those who do it best cannot tell how it is done.

I bowl so slowly that if I don't like a ball I can run after it and bring it back

You see, dear, it is not true that woman was made from man's rib; she was made from his funny bone.

Love is not blind; it is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard.

I have always found that the man whose second thoughts are good is worth watching.

Heaven for climate, Hell for company.

For several days after my first book was published, I carried it about in my pocket and took surreptitious peeps at it to make sure the ink had not faded.

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.

The best place a person can die, is where they die for others.

There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.

A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.

Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own.

The useless men are those who never change with the years.