Mark Strand Quotes

“From the shadow of domes in the city of domes,A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your roomAnd made its way to the arm of the chair where you, looking upFrom your book, saw it the moment it landed. That's allThere was to it.”

“On my bedside table is a snow globe with a winterscape inside. Church, park bench, girl standing shin-deep in snow. Tip the snow globe over and a blizzard of slow snow falls over church and bench and girl. What is it about snow globes that makes them fascinating and terrifying at once?My heart lurches at the thought of the snow-globe girl waiting endlessly, with only the hope of a new snow blizzard to settle on her mantle when the next person tips her snow-globe world over. Not a gust of breeze may ruffle her skirt, not a bird may perch atop the steeple. The only way out of a snow globe is by shattering the glass dome that is its sky.”

“Trees lose their leaves in blizzards like these.”

“Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake.”

“The blizzard doesn't last forever”

“People don’t like surprises,” Caine shot back.“People love surprises Caine; it's change, they hate. Everything that is living is always changing. If it’s not changing, it’s dying.”

“Edward, maybe you're seeking the wrong answer? You are asking the wrong question. It's not what you believe, but how you choose to believe. Everyone believes something. Even nothing is something.”

“He cements his existence in an echo of time, but the journey demands him to change. He cannot see; his identity is a mask. Nothing in this world stays the same. The path unveils our identity. Our identity is not created but revealed.”

“The irony of the human condition is that it is the narrow gate to life. Few find it because they are too fearful to look”

“Purpose and reason? Purpose and reason are not the same thing. Reason seeks to understand. Purpose requires faith. Reason is attained. Purpose is revealed. Reason is acquired by works. Purpose is endowed with grace. And wisdom is the combination of both.”