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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!'

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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 has long been a tradition among novel writers that a book must end by everybody getting just what they wanted, or if the conventional happy ending was impossible, then it must be a tragedy in which one or both should die. In real life very few of us get what we want, our tragedies don't kill us, but we go on living them year after year, carrying them with us like a scar on an old wound.”

Ifs Want Should Writing Years Long Book Real Ends Wanted Dies Novel Impossible Goes On Tradition Tragedy Wounds Real Life Scar Conventional Happy Endings Old Wounds

Author:Willa Cather

“[Mark Twain] is still the rough, awkward, good-natured boy who swore at the deck hands when he was three years old. Thoroughly likeable as a good fellow, but impossible as a man of letters.”

Men Years Stills Hands Three Boys Impossible Letters Mark Fellows Rough Three Years Awkward Deck Likeable Three Year Olds

Book:The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews, 1893-1902

Source: The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews, 1893-1902

“Thirty or forty years ago, in one those grey towns along the Burlington railroad which are so much greyer to-day than they were then, there was a house well know from Omaha to Denver for its hospitality and for a certain charm of atmosphere.”

Knows Years Wells Book Certain House Years Ago Towns Atmosphere Thirty Charm Forty Grey Hospitality Railroads Denver Omaha

Book:A Lost Lady

Source: A Lost Lady

“One summer evening in the year 1848, three Cardinals and a missionary were dining together in the gardens of a villa in the Sabine hills, overlooking Rome.”

Years Book Together Three Summer Garden Evening Hills Rome Missionary Cardinals Dining Overlooking Villa Summer Evening

Book:Death Comes for the Archbishop

Source: Death Comes for the Archbishop

“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

“One afternoon late in October of the year 1697, Euclide Auclair, the philosopher apothecary of Quebec, stood on the top of Cap Diamant gazing down the broad, empty river far beneath him.”

Years Book Late Rivers Empty Philosopher Broads Afternoon Caps October Gazing Quebec Apothecary

Author:Willa Cather

“A soup like this is not the work of one man. It is the result of a constantly refined tradition. There are nearly a thousand years of history in this soup.”

Men Years Results Food Thousand Tradition One Man Thousand Years Soup Refined

Book:Death Comes for the Archbishop

Source: Death Comes for the Archbishop

“If you don't keep and guard and mature your force, and above all, have time and quiet to perfect your work, you will be writing things not much better than you did five years ago.”

Ifs Writing Years Force Perfect Five Quiet Years Ago Five Years Mature Better Than You

Book:Collected Short Fiction, 1892-1912

Source: Collected Short Fiction, 1892-1912

“The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of times when I don't realize it. You really are a part of me. In the course of twenty crowded years one parts with many illusions... I did not wish to lose the early ones. Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen again.”

Years Mind Ideas Reality Happens Courses Wish Realizing Loses Memories Influence Taste Illusion Twenties Likes Dislike Crowded Of My Mind Year One Likes And Dislikes

Author:Willa Cather

“Look at my papa here; he's been dead all these years, and yet he is more real to me than almost anybody else. He never goes out of my life. I talk to him and consult him all the time. The older I grow, the better I know him and the more I understand him.”

Knows Years Looks Real Grows Papa

Book:My Ántonia

Source: My Ántonia

About the Author

Born: December 7, 1873
Died: April 24, 1947
Known for: Author
Quotes: 304

Books & Sources

The Best of Willa CatherRelated source material

My ÁntoniaRelated source material

Death Comes for the ArchbishopRelated source material

My Mortal EnemyRelated source material

The Professor's HouseRelated source material

The Essential Willa Cather CollectionRelated source material

The Song of the LarkRelated source material

Not Under FortyRelated source material

O Pioneers!Related source material

Willa Cather in person: interviews, speeches, and lettersRelated source material

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