...And From My Latest Reading Material

[wordweaver06]

"I don't know if there is purpose in this destruction, or whether the land is not yet settled into its final form, even as we men and women are not yet perfected. Perhaps the land too struggles to evolve its soul and perfect itself." ~The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley

Comments

[mammawendy]

there's a quote from john irving's the cider house rules "the world is being simultaneously invented and destroyed". i know the quote is longer, but i can never find it when i want it. good book, if you haven't read it. anyway, i was reading this latest quote and that immediately popped into my head. :)

[wordweaver06]

What spoke to me about this quote (and Irvings) was the idea that the world is trying to right itself, and that the process is tumultuous. And I love the parallel to humanity; this idea that we are trying so hard to be some representation of perfect, but that the process of getting there was a constant destruction and rebuilding.

It's funny, though, I've only read on John Irving book, but he has influenced me greatly as a writer because he has influenced so many of my writing teachers. I think Laura Lippmann quoted him as saying something about how the things that touch us the most deeply are the things we never speak about. I find myself using that in my writing all the time, even though I've never read the book to which he was referring.

[mammawendy]

i like that, both of those things actually.