“After that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding woods or blooming gardens. There was only—spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm, high wind—rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on that red prairie, I should have known that it was spring.”
Willa Cather“Pittsburgh was even more vital, more creative, more hungry for culture than New York. Pittsburgh was the birthplace of my writing.”
Willa Cather“Miracles surround us at every turn, if we but sharpen our perceptions to them.”
Willa Cather“Constant comparisons are the stamp of the foreigner; one continually translates manners and customs of a new country into terms of his own, before he can fully comprehend them.”
Willa Cather, Willa Cather in Europe: Her Own Story of the First Journey“The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.”
Willa Cather“What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.”
Willa Cather“The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.”
Willa Cather“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.”
Willa Cather“Where there is great love, there are always wishes.”
Willa Cather“All the intelligence and talent in the world can't make a singer. The voice is a wild thing. It can't be bred in captivity. It is a sport, like the silver fox. It happens.”
Willa Cather“That is happiness to be dissolved into something complete and great.”
Willa Cather