---
title: "1 Bad temper Quotes By William Maxwell"
description: "1 Bad temper quotes by William Maxwell. Plus more from William Maxwell and more Bad temper sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/william-maxwell-14213_bad-temper_mother-listen-to-me-now-s-your-chance-do_1698093.jpg"
---

> [“Mother, listen to me. Now's your chance, do you hear? I know that when I start to talk about what I really think and want and believe, something comes over you, some terrible fit of impatience, so that your knees…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/mother-listen-to-me-now-s-your-chance-do-you-hear-i-know-that-when-i/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd6/william-maxwell-14213_bad-temper_mother-listen-to-me-now-s-your-chance-do_1698093.jpg)

## More by William Maxwell

> [“There is nothing so difficult to arrive at as the nature and personality of one's parents. Death, about which so much mystery is made,is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/there-is-nothing-so-difficult-to-arrive-at-as-the-nature-and/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [It was lovely when you found students who responded to things you were enthusiastic about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/it-was-lovely-when-you-found-students-who-responded-to-things-you/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [Reading is rapture (or if it isn't, I put the book down meaning to go on with it later, and escape out the side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/reading-is-rapture-or-if-it-isn-t-i-put-the-book-down-meaning-to-go/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [If you turn the imagination loose like a hunting dog, it will often return with the bird in its mouth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/if-you-turn-the-imagination-loose-like-a-hunting-dog-it-will-often/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [I had inadvertently walked through a door that I shouldn’t have gone through and couldn’t get back to the place I hadn’t meant to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/i-had-inadvertently-walked-through-a-door-that-i-shouldn-t-have-gone/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [“Whether they are part of a home or home is a part of them is not a question children are prepared to answer. Having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/whether-they-are-part-of-a-home-or-home-is-a-part-of-them-is-not-a/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [Happiness is the light on the water. The water is cold and dark and deep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/happiness-is-the-light-on-the-water-the-water-is-cold-and-dark-and/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [Love, even of the most ardent and soul-destroying kind, is never caught by the lens of the camera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/love-even-of-the-most-ardent-and-soul-destroying-kind-is-never-caught/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [The nail doesn't choose the time or the circumstances in which it is drawn to the magnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/the-nail-doesn-t-choose-the-time-or-the-circumstances-in-which-it-is/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [“If your first plan fails, try another!” – Napoleon Hill If”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/if-your-first-plan-fails-try-another-napoleon-hill-if/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [The reason life is so strange is that so often people have no choice,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/the-reason-life-is-so-strange-is-that-so-often-people-have-no-choice/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [If I had had to write only about imaginary people, I would have had to close up my typewriter. I wrote about my life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/if-i-had-had-to-write-only-about-imaginary-people-i-would-have-had-to/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [“Without the heavy set aristocratic man snoring away on his side of the bed, without the fresh-eyed child whose hair ribbon needs retying; without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/without-the-heavy-set-aristocratic-man-snoring-away-on-his-side-of/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [“For most people, having company for more than three of four days is a serious mistake, the equivalent to sawing a large hole in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/for-most-people-having-company-for-more-than-three-of-four-days-is-a/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

> [“But he was careful. He didn’t make a simple remark without rehearsing it beforehand. And he continually removed the expression from his face lest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-maxwell/but-he-was-careful-he-didn-t-make-a-simple-remark-without-rehearsing/)

[William Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-maxwell/)

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                        "text": "“Mother, listen to me. Now's your chance, do you hear? I know that when I start to talk about what I really think and want and believe, something comes over you, some terrible fit of impatience, so that your knees twitch and you can't even sit still long enough to hear what I have to say. You listen to other people. Anybody but your own daughter you have all the patience in the world with. I've watched you. You know just what to say and what not to say. With everybody but me you're wonderful. I wish I had a mirror. I wish I could show you what you look like right now, your face flushed and set, and that expression of grim endurance. Why do you have to endure your own daughter? I get furious at you but I don't endure you. What is it you want me to be? Do you want me to be domestic, like Cousin Martha, and worry about meals and whether the cook is in a bad temper and whether my husband is looking at some other woman? I haven't any husband to be jealous of, and I haven't any house, either. So I can't very well be domestic, can I? Or worry about the temper of the cook who doesn't exist? Do you want me to be afraid of you the way the Beach girls are afraid of their mother, so that when you're around all the life and hope goes out of me, and everybody thinks what a pity it is that such a charming delightful woman should have a dull daughter? Well I won't be dull for anybody, not even you. I'm not dull so why should I pretend to be? Or easy going, or self-controlled or anything else...What you are thinking now I know. I can read it in your face. We've been over this a thousand times, you're saying, so why do we have to go over it again? But we haven't been over it a thousand times. I've never really talked to you the way I'm talking now, never in my whole life. Always before I've spared you, spared your feelings, and this time I'm not going to. I don't see any reason to spare your feelings. You're a grown woman and you had enough courage to leave my father and to come back to him, which I wouldn't have been able to do. I'd have died first.”",
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