WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Poem (1968-11), “The Peace of Wild Things,” Green River Review, Vol. 1, No. 1

Dave — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 16:48:09 +0000

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Poem (1968-11), “The Peace of Wild Things,” Green River Review, Vol. 1, No. 1
(Source)

Collected in his Openings (1968).

Bellow, Saul -- “The Art of Fiction: Saul Bellow,” interview by Gordon Lloyd Harper, The Paris Review (Winter 1966)

Dave — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 16:31:24 +0000

I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness that characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) Canadian-American writer
“The Art of Fiction: Saul Bellow,” interview by Gordon Lloyd Harper, The Paris Review (Winter 1966)
(Source)

Reprinted in Gloria Cronin and Ben Siegel, ed., Conversations with Saul Bellow (1994).

Bear, Elizabeth -- Ancestral Night (2019)

Dave — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 16:28:16 +0000

Anyway, one of the first things you learn in space is not to thrash. If you have nothing constructive to do, the most constructive thing you can do is often nothing at all. In a mindful sense, I mean. Thrashing is the thing that gets people killed. Not sitting still.

Elizabeth Bear (b. 1971) American author [pseud. for Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky]
Ancestral Night (2019)
(Source)

Sandburg, Carl -- Incidentals (1900)

Dave — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:06:32 +0000

If you don’t know what to do, sit still and listen. You may hear something.

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
Incidentals (1900)

Young, Edward -- Poem (1745-03), “Night the 8th: Virtue’s Apology,” l. 922, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 2 (1748)

Dave — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 12:08:33 +0000

Man’s greatest strength is shown in standing still.

Edward Young (1683-1765) English poet
Poem (1745-03), “Night the 8th: Virtue’s Apology,” l. 922, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 2 (1748)
(Source)

Adams, Douglas -- Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 1, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 33 (1979)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 1, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 33 (1979)
(Source)