“Far rather would I sit and sew beside my poor mother, for this thing is not of my condition. But I must go, and I must do this thing, because my Lord will have it so. Rather now than tomorrow, and tomorrow than the day after!” MotherPoorLordConditionsTomorrow Book:Joan of Arc: Self Portrait Source: Joan of Arc: Self Portrait
“Although she had resisted this knowledge all her life, had lived determinedly in the future focused there by ambition, she understood at last that this was the real condition of humanity: The dance of life occurred not yesterday or tomorrow, but only here at the still point that was the present. This truth is simmple, sel-evident, but difficult to accept, for we sentimentalize the past and wallow in it, while we endure the moment and in every waking hour dream of the future.” StillsRealMomentsDreamLastsPastHumanityDifficultHoursAcceptingConditionsTomorrowTruth IsAmbitionUnderstoodEndureFocusedYesterdayWakingEvident Book:The Taking: A Novel Source: The Taking: A Novel
“Civilizations grow by agreements and accomodations and accretions, not by repudiations. The rebels and the revolutionaries are only eddies, they keep the stream from getting stagnant but they get swept down and absorbed, they're a side issue. Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition. If revolutionaries would learn that they can't remodel society by day after tomorrow -- haven't the wisdom to and shouldn't be permitted to -- I'd have more respect for them ... Civilizations grow and change and decline -- they aren't remade.” IfsHumansNamesGrowsSidesIssuesConditionsHavensTomorrowCivilizationQuietDown AndRevolutionaryStreamsAgreementRebelHuman ConditionDeclineDesperationStagnantQuiet Desperation Author:Wallace Stegner