There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. – Willa Cather
Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen. – Willa Cather
The sun was like a great visiting presence that stimulated and took its due from all animal energy. When it flung wide its cloak and stepped down over the edge of the fields at evening, it left behind it a spent and exhausted world. – Willa Cather
Sometimes a neighbor whom we have disliked a lifetime for his arrogance and conceit lets fall a single commonplace remark that shows us another side, another man, really; a man uncertain, and puzzled, and in the dark like ourselves. – Willa Cather
Mutual respect implies discretion and reserve even in love itself; it means preserving as much liberty as possible to those whose life we share. We must distrust our instinct of intervention, for the desire to make ones own will prevail is often disguised under the mask of solicitude. – Henri Frederic Amiel