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Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen Quotes

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Famous Peter Matthiessen Quotes

“The sun is roaring, it fills to bursting each crystal of snow. I flush with feeling, moved beyond my comprehension, and once again, the warm tears freeze upon my face. These rocks and mountains, all this matter, the snow itself, the air- the earth is ringing. All is moving, full of power, full of light.”

MatterFeelingsLightEarthFacesMovingSunAirRocksTearsMountainMovedWarmSnowCrystalsComprehensionFreezeRoaringBursting
Book:The Snow Leopard
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“Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. This retreat from wonder, the backing away like lobsters into safe crannies, the desperate instinct that our life passes unlived, is reflected in proliferation without joy, corrosive money rot, the gross befouling of the earth and air and water from which we came.”

MindBodyEarthJoyWaterWonderOur LivesAirPureSafeSurvivalInstinctGrantedDesperateRetreatGrossFear Of DeathProliferationLobsterAir And WaterBacking Away
Book:The Snow Leopard
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“Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake. We tend to daydream all the time, speculating about the future and dwelling on the past. Zen practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If you are truly aware of five minutes a day, then you are doing pretty well. We are beset by both the future and the past, and there is no reality apart from the here and now.”

IfsWellsMomentsRealityPastPracticeFiveAliveMinutesAppreciateAwakeFive MinutesRemindersHere And NowDwellingDaydreamingStaying AliveDwelling On The Past
Author:Peter Matthiessen
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“In the clearness of this Himalayan air, mountains draw near, and in such splendor, tears come quietly to my eyes and cool on my sunburned cheeks. this is not mere soft-mindedness, nor am I all that silly with the altitude. My head has cleared in these weeks free of intrusions- mail, telephones, people and their needs- and I respond to things spontaneously, without defensive or self-conscious screens. Still, all this feeling is astonishing: not so long ago I could say truthfully that I had not shed a tear in twenty years.”

PeopleNeedsYearsLongStillsSelfFeelingsEyeAirWeekTearsMountainDrawsConsciousTwentiesMereScreensSillyMailCheeksShedLong AgoTelephonesAstonishingSelf ConsciousSplendorIntrusionClearness
Book:The Snow Leopard
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