That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.
Willa CatherRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art captures fleeting moments of life, preserving their beauty before they slip away.
In this quote, Willa Cather reflects on the essence of art as a vessel that strives to capture and hold the transient beauty of life. She emphasizes the bittersweet nature of existence, suggesting that while life moves quickly and cannot be halted, art provides us a way to momentarily grasp its ephemeral qualities, allowing us to appreciate and preserve its sweetness.
Themes
ArtLifeBeautyImpermanenceCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
During an art exhibition, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of experiencing and capturing beauty in creativity.
More from Willa Cather
All quotes →Our tree became the talking tree of the fairy tale; legends and stories nestled like birds in its branches.
Willa CatherRead
Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand - a business as safe and commendable as making soap or breakfast foods - or it should be an art, which is always a search for something for which there is no market demand, something new and untried, where the values are intrinsic and have nothing to do with standardized values.
Willa CatherRead
The air and the earth interpenetrated in the warm gusts of spring; the soil was full of sunlight, and the sunlight full of red dust. The air one breathed was saturated with earthy smells, and the grass under foot had a reflection of the blue sky in it.
Willa CatherRead
This is reality, whether you like it or not--all those frivolities of summer, the light and shadow, the living mask of green that trembled over everything, they were lies, and this is what was underneath. This is the truth.
Willa CatherRead
Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are everything.
Willa CatherRead
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Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary.
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A few years back I was asked if I would go and meet a director and his various acolytes, and it occurred to me halfway through the meeting that what I was doing was auditioning. And I thought, 'Well, hang on buddy. I've done half a century of this.'
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