There's a rich tapestry of wisdom that's interwoven into the words of the great American writer, Willa Cather. Her life's work resonates deeply with those who yearn for that elusive connection with the past, the pioneer spirit, and the raw honesty of human existence. That's why we've handpicked 50 pioneer Willa Cather quotes to inspire your literary spirit, awaken your nostalgia, and fire up your imagination. Her extraordinary ability to frame life's truths in her own unique voice is what makes these quotes not only poignant but timeless.
Ever wonder about the woman behind these brilliant expressions? Well, let's take a journey back in time to the late 19th century, a period marked by the grandeur of the American frontier. Willa Cather was the embodiment of this era – a woman of great intellect and heart who harnessed the unyielding grit of the pioneers. As a young girl, she moved from Virginia to Nebraska, an experience that would immerse her in the pioneer culture and deeply influence her literary work. Much like the pioneers she admired, Willa crafted a unique path in literature, making her mark with iconic works like ‘My Ántonia‘ and ‘O Pioneers!‘. As we explore these fascinating pioneer Willa Cather quotes, we're stepping into the footprint of a woman who was, indeed, as captivating as her words.
The Frontier Spirit
1. “Where there is great love, there are always wishes.” – ‘My Ántonia'
2. “The end is nothing; the road is all.” – ‘My Ántonia'
3. “That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.” – ‘My Ántonia'
4. “Life began for me when I ceased to admire and began to remember.” – ‘Lucy Gayheart‘
5. “The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor.” – ‘The World and the Parish'
6. “The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.” – ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop'
7. “The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.” – ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop'
8. “It does not matter much whom we live with in this world, but it matters a great deal whom we dream of.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
9. “Every artist knows that there is no such thing as ‘freedom' in art.” – ‘On the Art of Fiction'
10. “Art, it seems to me, should simplify. That, indeed, is very nearly the whole of the higher artistic process; finding what conventions of form and what detail one can do without and yet preserve the spirit of the whole.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
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Strength and Endurance
- “Desire without hope is agony.” – ‘The Professor's House'
- “Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “A pioneer should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
- “Sometimes a neighbor whom we have disliked a lifetime for his arrogance and conceit lets fall a single commonplace remark that shows us another side, another man, really; a man uncertain, and puzzled, and in the dark like ourselves.” – ‘My Antonia'
- “What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself — life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
- “One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and hold fast to the days, as to fortune or fame.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “What a thing it is to lie there all day in the fine breeze, with the pine needles dropping on one, only to return to one’s book, and yet to feel the joy of life so strong in one that it seems as if it must burst the very trees, its song is so strong and its whisper in the grass so stirring.” – ‘My Antonia'
Love and Longing
- “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop'
- “No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “The condition every art requires is, not so much freedom from restriction, as freedom from adulteration and from the intrusion of foreign matter.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “I've been afraid of people all my life. What they might say about me… What they might do to me. But nature's different. It's a different kind of company.” – ‘My Ántonia'
- “Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.” – ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop'
- “Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.” – ‘My Ántonia'
- “Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.” – ‘My Ántonia'
- “Love itself draws on a woman nearly all the bad luck in the world.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them as if their reason had left them.” – ‘My Antonia'
- “The years seemed to stretch ahead in a sort of timeless way. But at length as the second summer approached, the appetite for beauty wakened in her heart.” – ‘My Antonia'
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The Power of Imagination
- “Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.” – ‘My Ántonia'
- “Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “It is happiness to wonder; it is happiness to dream.” – ‘My Ántonia'
- “What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself — life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
- “Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another – secret and passionate and intense – which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends.” – ‘Shadows on the Rock'
- “I am in love with this world… I have nestled lovingly in it.” – ‘My Antonia'
- “It is astonishing how violently a big branch shakes when a silly little bird has left it. I expect the bird knows it and feels immensely arrogant.” – ‘My Antonia'
- “A work-room should be like an old shoe; no matter how shabby, it's better than a new one.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “One could laugh at the world better from a carriage.” – ‘A Lost Lady'
- “It is a kind of vanity to think we could ever be really responsible for a human creature.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
Legacy and Timelessness
- “The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the young.” – ‘One of Ours'
- “The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” – ‘O Pioneers!'
- “The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing — desire.” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
- “When people ask me if it has been a hard or easy road, I always answer with the same word: ‘rewarding’.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “Every artist makes himself born. It is very much harder than the other time, and longer.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.” – ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop'
- “The thing that teases the mind over and over for years, and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper — whether little or great, it belongs to Literature.” – ‘Willa Cather on Writing'
- “What was any art but an attempt to make a sheath, a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself – life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose?” – ‘The Song of the Lark'
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