Shirley Quotes

1. "Weird? Absurd? That's how it seemed to me. I had these forces, these compunctions, these alternative personalities inside me, driving me. It was like being a jack-in-the-box and I was unsure which personality was going to jump out next: Billy, who thought of himself as a cowboy or a terrorist; Kato the cutter; anorexic Shirley, whose only self-indulgence was binge drinking and the occasional salad sandwich. I didn't dislike Shirley. I was afraid of her. Shirley knew things I didn't."
Author: Alice Jamieson

2. "Why did I allow the abuse to continue? Even as a teenager?I didn't. Something that had been plaguing me for years now made sense. It was like the answer to a terrible secret. The thing is, it wasn't me in my bed, it was Shirley who lay the wondering if that man was going to come to her room, pull back the cover and push his penis into her waiting mouth it was Shirley. I remembered watching her, a skinny little thing with no breasts and a dark resentful expression. She was angry. She didn't want this man in her room doing the things he did, but she didn't know how to stop it. He didn't beat her, he didn't threaten her. He just looked at her with black hypnotic eyes and she lay back with her legs apart thinking about nothing at all. And where was I? I stood to one side, or hovered overhead just below the ceiling, or rode on a magic carpet. I held my breath and watched my father pushing up and down inside Shirley's skinny body."
Author: Alice Jamieson

3. "Did I imagine the castle, the dungeon, the ritual orgies and violations? Did Lucy, Billy, Samuel, Eliza, Shirley and Kato make it all up? I went back to the industrial estate and found the castle. It was an old factory that had burned to the ground, but the charred ruins of the basement remained. I closed my eyes and could see the black candles, the dancing shadows, the inverted pentagram, the people chanting through hooded robes. I could see myself among other children being abused in ways that defy imagination. I have no doubt now that the cult of devil worshippers was nothing more than a ring of paedophiles, the satanic paraphernalia a cover for their true lusts: the innocent bodies of young children."
Author: Alice Jamieson

4. "Shirley: "Christopher, would you like to tell Olivia what "F.I.N.E" means?"Christopher: "Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional"...Olivia: "But what if you really do feel fine?"Shirley: "Christopher, care to answer that?"Christopher: "Um, there's no such feeling as fine."
Author: Amy Reed

5. "Shirley Jackson's writings are a must for aficionados of the gothic and of good literature."
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

6. "One day Manuel returned to the place, andshe was gone - no argument, no note, justgone, all her clothesall her stuff, andManuel sat by the window and looked outand didn't make his jobthe next day or thenext day orthe day after, hedidn't phone in, helost his job, got aticket for parking, smokedfour hundred and sixty cigarettes, gotpicked up for common drunk, bailedout, wentto court and pleadedguilty.when the rent was up he moved from Beacon street, heleft the cat and went to live with his brother andthey'd get drunkevery nightand talk about how terriblelife was.Manuel never again smokedlong slim cigarsbecause Shirley always saidhowhandsome he lookedwhen he did."
Author: Charles Bukowski

7. "If Shirley were not an indolent, a reckless, an ignorant being, she would take a pen at such moments, or at least while the recollection of such moments was yet fresh on her spirit. She would seize, she would fix the apparition, tell the vision revealed. Had she a little more of the organ of acquisitiveness in her head, a little more of the love of property in her nature, she would take a good-sized sheet of paper and write plainly out, in her own queer but clear and legible hand, the story that has been narrated, the song that has been sung to her, and thus possess what she was enabled to create. But indolent she is, reckless she is, and most ignorant; for she does not know her dreams are rare, her feelings peculiar. She does not know, has never known, and will die without knowing, the full value of that spring whose bright fresh bubbling in her heart keeps it green."
Author: Charlotte Brontë

8. "I kind of did this thing in high school, a spoof of 'Sweeney Todd' called 'Shirley Todd,' and I had a great time doing that."
Author: Chris Colfer

9. "That's what the movies do. They don't entertain us, they don't send the message: 'We care.' They give us lines to say, they assign us parts: John Wayne, Theda Bara, Shirley Temple, take your pick."
Author: Connie Willis

10. "I have such a crush on Shirley Manson. I think she's the coolest thing."
Author: Garret Dillahunt

11. "Howard and Shirley were clothed, always, in an invisible layer of decorum that they never laid aside."
Author: J.K. Rowling

12. "I found that I could make people laugh doing people like Shirley Bassey. Fortunately it worked."
Author: Jane Horrocks

13. "Diesel rocked back on his heels and grinned at the monkey. "Carl?" "Eep!" The monkey stood, squinted at Diesel, and gave him the finger. "Looks like you know each other," I said. "Our paths crossed in Trenton," Diesel said. "How did he get here?" "Monkey Rescue," Glo told him. "He was abandoned." "Figures," Diesel said. The monkey gave him the finger again. "Does he do that all the time?" I asked Diesel. "Not all the time." "I got him by mistake," Glo said. "And now we don't know what to do with him." "You could turn him loose and let him go play in traffic." Diesel said. - Lizzy, Shirley, Diesel, and Carl, pages 132-134."
Author: Janet Evanovich

14. "Shirley's gonna be pissed," Gazarra said. "She hates when I get shot." To my recollection, the only other time Gazarra was shot was when he was playing quick draw in the police station elevator and his gun accidentally discharged. The bullet ricocheted off the elevator wall and lodged in Gazarra's right buttock."
Author: Janet Evanovich

15. "To quote Shirley Polanski, head waitress at the Humdinger Diner: "Beware of a big man whose stomach doesn't move when he laughs."I think a Chinese philosopher said it first, but these things trickle down to the food service community."
Author: Joan Bauer

16. "Shirley Maclaine once said that she didn't want to be a big star, just a long star. That's what I want too."
Author: Joyce DeWitt

17. "Well, possibly," I said, feeling my lips twitch again. "But maybe first you would tell us why you chose to manifest yourself in the form of Shirley Temple as last seen on the 'Good Ship Lollipop'?"The demon twirled around, its big pink sash fluttering as it smoothed down its dress and frilly little petticoat. "My grotesque form isn't making you sick with fright?"We both shook our heads, Noelle with a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Shirley Temple at her pinnacle was frightening," I finally told it, "but not in the sense I think you mean."
Author: Katie MacAlister

18. "?"Wouldn't it be lovely, Miss Shirley, if some one could just wave a wand and make everybody beautiful?" she said wistfully. "Just fancy my feelings, Miss Shirley, if I suddenly fould myself beautiful! But then"....with a sigh..."if we were all beauties who would do the work?" Anne of Windy Poplars"
Author: L.M. Montgomery

19. "When a man don't know his own mind, Miss Shirley, ma'am, how's a poor woman going to be sure of it?"
Author: L.M. Montgomery

20. "Jane's stories are too sensible. Then Diana puts too much murders into hers. She says most of the time she doesn't know what to do with the people so she kills the off to get rid of them." -Anne Shirley"
Author: L.M. Montgomery

21. "Anne Shirley. Anne with an "e."
Author: L.M. Montgomery

22. "It is only very foolish folk who talk sense all the time." - Anne Shirley"
Author: L.M. Montgomery

23. "Do you practice the laugh, or is it a natural talent? Naw, I'm betting you practice." Jean-Claude's face twisted. I couldn't decide if he was trying not to laugh, or not to frown. Maybe both. I affected some people that way. The laughter seeped out of her face, very human, until only her eyes sparkled. There was nothing funny about the look in those twinkling eyes. It was the sort of look a cat gives a small bird. Her voice lifted at the end of each word, a Shirley Temple affectation. "You are either very brave, or very stupid." "You really need at least one dimple to go with the laugh." Jean-Claude said softly, "I'm betting on stupid."
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

24. "These brats know a lot of words,' Shirley said, in her ridiculously fake high voice. 'They're book addicts. But we can still create an accident and win the fortune!"
Author: Lemony Snicket

25. "I like more grounded comedy. I enjoy broad comedies also, but I like Shirley MacLaine."
Author: Leslie Mann

26. "Shirley! Don't call me Shirley!"
Author: Leslie Nielsen

27. "Shirley Valentine is a beautiful character and so well written. What Shirley speaks and thinks is so logical."
Author: Loretta Swit

28. "But I believed in starting over. There was finally, I knew, only rupture and hurt and falling short between all persons, but, Shirley, the best revenge was to turn your life into a small gathering of miracles.If I could not be anchored and profound, I would try, at least, to be kind."
Author: Lorrie Moore

29. "Drinking Shirley Temple with my Mary Janes on, let's say that every possibility waits"
Author: Lyn Hejinian

30. "They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum."
Author: Tallulah Bankhead

31. "I did my best Shirley Booth this morning, floppy slippers, housecoat, curlers, can of Little Friskies; "Come back, Little Sheba, come back..." To no avail. Le chat, elle ne reviendra jamais, jamais..."
Author: Tony Kushner

32. "To let the people know there was life beyond Shirley Dean, we decided to focus on voter registration; each day I set up my card table somewhere in the district, signed people up, and passed out noses."
Author: Wavy Gravy

Shirley Quotes Pictures