And he likes to torment me, and laughs when I get upset when he does. No, of course not. I do not love Jack Elliot. He is low and coarse and a soldier, and not the kind of man I want to spend my life with.

— Nancy E. Turner

At times, it's better to think of exactly what is happening right in front of you every second, rather than going through things from the past in your mind.

— Nancy E. Turner

Children are a burden to a mother, but not the way a heavy box is to a mule. Our children weight hard on my heart, and thinking about them growing up honest and healthy, or just living to grow up at all, makes a load in my chest that is bigger than the safe at the bank, and more valuable to me than all the gold inside it.

— Nancy E. Turner

[Children] just cannot be sad too long, it is not in them, as children mourn in little bits here and there like patchwork in their lives.

— Nancy E. Turner

How is it possible for me to feel so young and so old at the same time?

— Nancy E. Turner

I asked Mama was it a sin to do what I'm done, and she said no, it was the same as David slaying Goliath, it was only to save Alyssa and the others, not because of meanness that I did it. I would do it again, too. Furthermore, I am not sorry, but this has hurt my heart and spirit more than all the other trials, for being forsaken is worse than being killed.

— Nancy E. Turner

I have a deep-down belief that there are folks in the world who are good through and through, and others who came in mean and will go out mean. It's like coffee. Once it's roasted, it all looks brown. Until you pour hot water on it and see what comes out. Folks get into hot water, you see what comes out.

— Nancy E. Turner

I might like to have someone courting me. But it would have to be someone who is a square shooter and who has a train load of courage. And it would have to be someone who doesn't have to talk down to folks to feel good, or to tell a person they are worthless if they just made a mistake. And he'd have to be not too thin. Why, I remember hugging [my brother] Ernest was like wrapping your arms around a fence post, and I love Ernest, but I want a man who can hold me down in a wind. Maybe he'd have to be pretty stubborn. I don't have any use for a man that isn't stubborn. Likely a stubborn fellow will stay with you through thick and thin, and a spineless one will take off, or let his heart wander.

— Nancy E. Turner

I never miss Meeting now," I said. "Do not look surprised. I have sent many a prayer heavenward on your behalf. And your father is not home yet. Your uncle sails under more danger of his own making. There is more to living in a town than I knew when you were young. Things have happened. It is important to go and to give to the poor and to keep in good graces with all who know us."" But you always said to trust your own heart."" That is true, son. I do not do this for trickery but to make myself known. If people have your acquaintance and friendship, they are not so quick to believe falsity.

— Nancy E. Turner

I realized that poverty was a kind of captivity.

— Nancy E. Turner