Daphne du Maurier Quote

Take care, my father used to say, when first instructing Robert in the art of blowing glass. Control is of supreme importance. One false movement and the expanding glass will be shattered. I remember the dawning excitement in my brother’s eyes—could he, dared he, go beyond the limits prescribed? It was as though he longed for the explosion that would wreck his own first effort and his father’s temper into the bargain. There comes this supreme moment to the glass-blower, when he can either breathe life and form into the growing bubble slowly taking shape before his eyes, or shatter it into a thousand fragments. The decision is the blower’s, and the judgment too; the throwing of the judgment in the balance made the excitement—for my brother.

Daphne du Maurier

Take care, my father used to say, when first instructing Robert in the art of blowing glass. Control is of supreme importance. One false movement and the expanding glass will be shattered. I remember the dawning excitement in my brother’s eyes—could he, dared he, go beyond the limits prescribed? It was as though he longed for the explosion that would wreck his own first effort and his father’s temper into the bargain. There comes this supreme moment to the glass-blower, when he can either breathe life and form into the growing bubble slowly taking shape before his eyes, or shatter it into a thousand fragments. The decision is the blower’s, and the judgment too; the throwing of the judgment in the balance made the excitement—for my brother.

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About Daphne du Maurier

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was George du Maurier, a writer and cartoonist.
Although du Maurier is classed as a romantic novelist, her stories have been described as "moody and resonant" with overtones of the paranormal. Her bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by critics, but they have since earned an enduring reputation for narrative craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". Du Maurier spent much of her life in Cornwall, where most of her works are set. As her fame increased, she became more reclusive.