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Wallace Stegner

Wallace Stegner Quotes

Historian

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Famous Wallace Stegner Quotes

“To try to save for everyone, for the hostile and independent as well as the committed, some of the health that flows down across the green ridges from the skyline, and some of the beauty and spirit that are still available to any resident of the valley who has a moment and the wit to lift up his eyes unto the hills.”

TryingWellsStillsMomentsEyeSpiritFlowIndependentGreenCommittedAvailableWitHillsLiftsHis EyesValleysHostileResidentsRidgesSkylines
Author:Wallace Stegner
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“Homesickness is a great teacher. It taught me, during an endless rainy fall, that I came from the arid lands, and like where I came from. I was used to dry clarity and sharpness in the air. I was used to horizons that either lifted into jagged ranges or rimmed the geometrical circle of the flat world. I was used to seeing a long way. I was used to earth colors--tan, rusty red, toned white--and the endless green of Iowa offended me. I was used to a sun that came up over mountains and went down behind other mountains. I missed the color and smell of sagebrush, and the sight of bare ground.”

WorldWayLongEarthUsedFallWhiteBehindsSunTeacherSeeingAirLandTaughtColorMountainRedSightGreenSmellCirclesEndlessClarityRangeDryFlatsHorizonOffendedLong WayRainyGreat TeacherIowaHomesicknessSharpness
Author:Wallace Stegner
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“I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder into foam, smooth to green glass over sunken rocks, shatter to foam again. I was fascinated by how it sped by and yet was always there; its roar shook both the earth and me.”

HeartEarthFacesWaterMinutesRocksMy HeartMountainRiversGreenEnvironmentalGlassesFascinatedSmoothThunderSprayFoamRivers And WaterPaddlingSpedWorld Water DayWhite WaterRivers And MountainsCool Water
Book:The Sound of Mountain Water: The Changing American West
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“What is such a resource worth? Anything it costs. If we never hike it or step into its shade, if we only drive by occasionally and see the textures of green mountainside change under wind and sun, or the fog move soft feathers down the gulches, or the last sunset on the continent redden the sky beyond the ridge, we have our money's worth. We have been too efficient at destruction; we have left our souls too little space to breathe in. Every green natural place we save saves a fragment of our sanity and gives us a little more hope that we have a future.”

IfsGivingLittlesHas BeensSoulLastsMovingLeftNaturalSpaceStepsSunSkyWindCostResourcesDestructionGreenBreatheSunsetShadeSanityEfficientContinentsFogFeathersFragmentsTextureRidges
Author:Wallace Stegner
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