Margaret Fairless Barber

“The birds are my brothers, and I am a brother to the birds.”

“The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato—the only good belonging to him is underground.”

“For life is the gift of God, and is divine. And death is the gift of God, and is also divine.”

“There is no death! What seems so is transition.”

“The road is a great leveller.”

“I have learnt to love the road, and to see the beauty of the grey stones.”

“The song of the sea was in my blood.”

“Work is the greatest of all physicians. It is the Valerian of the soul.”

“Here I sit by the white road, and the grey world goes by.”

“I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. I am a road-mender, and my heart is with the stones.”

“It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

“The simple things are the great things.”

“I have known sorrow, and I have known joy. I have lived, and I have loved. And I am content.”

“There is no monotony in the life of a roadmender. The grey road has a new face every day.”

“There is always a path to the top of the highest mountain.”

“Life is a search for the truth.”

“Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good; by itself it makes everything that is heavy light; and it bears evenly all that is uneven.”

“To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.”

“The People of the Ruts have one great advantage. They are not like the People of the Pavements, who are all upon one level.”

“I sit and think of the past, and the long road my feet have trodden. I think of the joys and sorrows that have come to me; of the hands I have clasped and the lips I have kissed.”