Katherine Francke Quotes

“As perfume to the flower so is kindness to speech.”

“Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world. I have learned that what I have not drawn I have never really seen and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing I realize how extraordinary it is sheer miracle.”

“On the exoteric level the traditions are irreconcilable. On the esoteric, experiential level of the heart reigns an eloquent, reverential silence.”

“Art is neither a profession nor a hobby. Art is a Way of being.”

“It was enough to drive me mad. I was no longer myself and yet I was so much more me than I had ever been before. ~Katherine Demure”

“Katherine,” he says when we finish. We’re breathing each other’s air and lying side by side, our noses almost touching.“Mick,” I say.“I love your name. It suits you perfectly. Katherine. Katherine. Katherine and Mick.”And when he says my name like that, right next to his, everything is different. I’ve never really liked being called Katherine—all this time, despite what I’ve said, I’ve desperately missed being called Katie. I’ve missed being Katie.But I’m no longer Katie, I’m Katherine—and tonight, for the first time ever, I don’t want to be anyone else.”

“Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you? I mean, I've always felt like the Katherines dump me right when they start to see what I look like from the inside.”

“Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you? I mean, I’ve always felt like the Katherines dump me right when they start to see what I look like from the inside—well, except K-19. But I always wonder about that. If people could see me the way I see myself—if they could live in my memories—would anyone, anyone, love me?”

“Katherine gave in to the wonder of the moment, imagining herself in the astronauts' place. What emotions welled up from the depths of their hearts as they regarded their watery blue home from the void of space? How did it feel to be separated by a nearly unimaginable gulf from the rest of humanity yet carry the hopes, dreams, and fears of their entire species there with them in their tiny, vulnerable craft? Most people she knew wouldn't have traded places with the astronauts for all of the gold in Fort Knox. The men existed all alone out their in the void of space, connected so tenuously to Earth, with the real possibility that something could go wrong. But given the chance to throw her lot in with the astronauts, Katherine Johnson would have packed her bags immediately. Even without the pressure of the space race, even without the mandate to beat the enemy. For Katherine Johnson, curiosity always bested fear.”

“I love to close my eyes a moment and think of the land outside, white under the mingled snow and moonlight--the heaps of stones by the roadside white--snow in the furrows. Mon Dieu! How quiet and how patient!”