Nursery Rhymes Quotes

“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.”
― Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat

“Ring around the rosie.
A pocket full of posie.
Ashes ashes, we all fall down.
Some people say that this poem is about the Black Death, the fourteenth-century plague that killed 100-million people...
Sadly, though, most experts think this is nonsense...
How can I be so sure about this rhyme when all the experts disagree?
Because I ate the kid who made it up.”
― Scott Westerfeld, The Last Days

“This little piggy went to Hades
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy ate raw and steaming human flesh
This little piggy violated virgins
And this little piggy clambered over a heap of dead bodies to get to the top”
― Neil Gaiman

“Snow White one, Snow White two,
Sorrow is coming out for you.
Snow White three, Snow White four,
Black as night, go lock your door.
Snow White five, Snow White six,
Blood red lips and crucifix
Snow White seven, Snow White eight,
White as snow, don’t stay out late.
Snow White Nine, Snow White ten,
Snow White now killed snow white then”
― Cameron Jace, Snow White Sorrow

“I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible since.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her dear dog a bone.
Though the cupboard was bare,
When she focused elsewhere
Her heart overflowed with fun!”
― Kristen McKee, Nursery Rhymes for the Unconditional and Unschooled

“A nursery rhyme shapes your bones and nerves, and it shapes your mind. They are powerful, nursery rhymes, and immensely old, and not toys, even though they are for children." "But they make no sense!" Summer protested "Ah, well," said Ben. "Sometimes sense hides behind walls. You must find a window and stick your head right in before you can see it.”
― Katherine Catmull, Summer and Bird

“Sillman looked at his interrogator with hopeless eyes. 'I think while I was passed out, I dreamed about my mom's gingerbread cookies. Maybe the guy who knocked on the glass was eatin' one.' 'Mm,' said Peace-not-War. 'Well. That's helpful. We'll put an APB out on the Gingerbread Man. I'm not hopeful it'll do us much good, though. Word on the street is you can't catch him.”
― Joe Hill

“Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
Of course you cannot keep a wife-
Everyone's got to live their life!”
― Kristen McKee, Nursery Rhymes for the Unconditional and Unschooled

“Rock-a-bye Baby
In the tree top
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And Mama will catch you
Cradle and all!”
― Kristen McKee, Nursery Rhymes for the Unconditional and Unschooled

“There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children
And she still kept her cool.”
― Kristen McKee, Nursery Rhymes for the Unconditional and Unschooled

“In college I had a feminist botany professor who said that the properties of herbs have been documented largely by men, but the knowledge has been passed down in an oral tradition among women, one generation to the next. Even when girls were deemed unworthy of literacy, the rhymes they heard their mothers recite, like I borage give courage, or Nettle out, dock in, dock remove the nettle sting, made them bearers of a rich knowledge. The woman in a village who knew about herbs was called the Wise Woman.”
― Virginia Hartman, The Marsh Queen

“He’s very cute and lots of fun
and certainly means you no harm.
But sometimes he acts really silly
and wears a sock on each arm.”
― Marie Blair, Bobby and the Monsters

“When I heard about Humpty Dumpty I wondered did he fall or was he pushed?”
― P.D. James

“Jack."
"Last name?"
"Let's leave it at Jack," he said.
"Unfortunately, the online form insists on a last name before it will allow me to move to the next page." I held up the tablet to show him the screen. "How about Jack Spratt? Jack Frost? Jack Sparrow? Jack Horner? Do you have a beanstalk? Do you kill giants? Have you built a house? Are you nimble?"
"How about something not fantasy-based?" With a soft chuckle, he moved closer to study the screen.
"Jack Dawson? Jack Skellington?" I tried to ignore the heat of his body, the warm breath across my cheek. "Jack-Jack Parr? Jack Torrance? Jack Pearson? Jack Reacher? Jack Ryan?"
His laughter, deep and rich, filled the room. "You know your Jacks."
"I like movies. I'll watch anything so long as I'm not watching it alone. Sharing snarky comments is all part of the fun."
"I think doing anything with you would be fun." His smile made me smile. I couldn't stop it. Were we flirting? Was that a flirting smile? Was I flirting with a thief?”
― Sara Desai, To Have and to Heist

“Spring-Heeled Jack Is In The Lane by Stewart Stafford

Go indoors, children, before dark falls,
A fiend comes hideous and inhumane,
Tell your mother not to answer the door,
For Spring-Heeled Jack is in the lane.

Is it spectre, beast or demon?
A trick of light to fool the brain?
Blue flames spew from hellish maw,
Spring-Heeled Jack growls in the lane.

No one can unsee its monstrous face,
Nor its claws of steel that bloodstain,
Its haunting cackle freezes victims,
Spring-Heeled Jack leaps from the lane.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford