Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Walter Pater

Quote by Walter Pater

Work

Letters

A compilation of personal and professional exchanges that delve into the complexities of human connection and introspection. more

Author

Walter Pater
Walter Pater

Walter Pater was a British essayist, critic, and poet, known for his influential literary criticism and contributions to the Aesthetic Movement. Born on August 4, 1839, and died on July 30, 1894, Pater's work had a significant impact on the development of modern literary theory and the appreciation of art and literature. more

You May Also Like

“The difference between a non-suicide and an ex-suicide leaving the house for work, at eight o'clock on an ordinary morning: The non-suicide is a little traveling suck of care, sucking care with him from the past and being sucked toward care in the future. His breath is high in his chest. The ex-suicide opens his front door, sits down on the steps, and laughs. Since he has the option of being dead, he has nothing to lose by being alive. It is good to be alive. He goes to work because he doesn't have to.”

“Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes -- with all this taken away, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating.”

“One of my heroes, G.K. Chesterton, said, "The old fairy tales endure forever. The old fairy tale makes the hero a normal human boy; it is his adventures that are startling; they startle him because he is normal." Discovering that the modern world can still contain the wonder and strangeness of a fairy tale is part of what my novels are about.”