Home / Authors / Willa Cather

Willa Cather Quotes

Author

American author known for her depictions of the American Midwest. Cather's works often feature female protagonists, showcasing their resilience and growth in challenging environments. Her notable works include 'My Ántonia' and 'O Pioneers!'

Filter quotes by topic

All People Ifs World Men Art Knows Book Thinking Writing Littles Feels Life Stills Artist Country Sky Sun Years Heart Land

Famous Willa Cather Quotes

“It is scarcely exaggeration to say that if one is not a little mad about Balzac at twenty, one will never live; and if at forty one can still take Rastignac and Lucien de Rubempre at Balzac's own estimate, one has lived in vain.”

Ifs Littles Stills Twenties Mad Vain Forty Exaggeration Twenty One Balzac

Book:Not Under Forty

Source: Not Under Forty

“In little towns, lives roll along so close to one another; loves and hates beat about, their wings almost touching.”

Littles Hate Beats Towns Wings Touching Love And Hate Little Towns

Book:The Novels and Stories of Willa Cather ...

Source: The Novels and Stories of Willa Cather ...

“One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away.”

Trying Years Littles Book Years Ago Towns Thirty Thirty Years January Windy Blown Away Nebraska Little Towns

Book:O Pioneers

Source: O Pioneers

“The great fact was the land itself, which seemed to overwhelm the little beginnings of human society that struggled in its sombre wastes.”

Humans Littles Facts Land Waste Pioneers Human Society

Book:The Best of Willa Cather

Source: The Best of Willa Cather

“I wanted to walk straight on through the red grass and over the edge of the world, which could not be very far away. The light and air abot me told me that the world ended here: only the ground and sun and sky were left, and if one went a little farther there would only be sun and sky, and one would float off into them, like the tawny hawks which sailed over our heads making slow shadows on the grass.”

Source: 60 WESTERNS: Cowboy Adventures, Yukon & Oregon Trail Tales, Famous Outlaws, Gold Rush Adventures & much more: Riders of the Purple Sage, The Night Horseman, The Last of the Mohicans, Rimrock Trail, The Hidden Children, The Law of the Land, Heart of the West, A Texas Cow-Boy, The Prairie…

“The more observing ones may have seen, but discerning people are usually discreet and often kind, for we usually bleed a little before we begin to discern.”

People Kind May Littles Observing Discerning Discreet

Book:The Troll Garden: Short Stories

Source: The Troll Garden: Short Stories

“I was thinking, as I watched her, how little it mattered –about her teeth for instance. I know so many women who have kept all the things she had lost, *but whose inner glow has faded*. Whatever else was gone, Antonia had not lost the fire of life.”

Thinking Knows Littles Lost Gone Fire Teeth Instance Faded Antonia

Book:My Ántonia

Source: My Ántonia

“But she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things. She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions. It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races.”