For anyone who lives in the oak-and-maple area of New England, there is a perennial temptation to plunge into a purple sea of adjectives about October. Hal Borland More Quotes by Hal Borland More Quotes From Hal Borland Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Hal Borland love life funny No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. Hal Borland The longer I live and the more I read, the more certain I become that the real poems about spring aren't written on paper. They are written in the back pasture and the near meadow, and they are issued in a new revised edition every April. Hal Borland real paper spring March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice. Hal Borland shoes hair spring If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees. Hal Borland strength tree patience If you ever wondered why fishing is probably the most popular sport in this country, watch that boy beside on the water and you will learn. If you are really perceptive you will. For he already knows that fishing is only one part fish. Hal Borland sports boys country To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom is to know a particular ecstasy of beauty, but to walk the gray Winter woods and find the buds which will resurrect that beauty in another May is to partake of continuity. Hal Borland bud white winter Each new season grows from the leftovers from the past. That is the essence of change, and change is the basic law. Hal Borland law past moving Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable...the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street...by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese. Hal Borland autumn wind two All walking is discovery. On foot we take the time to see things whole. Hal Borland journey time discovery April is a promise that May is bound to keep. Hal Borland keeping-promises may spring All our yesterdays are summarized in our now, and all the tomorrows are ours to shape. Hal Borland shapes tomorrow yesterday The earth's distances invite the eye. And as the eye reaches, so must the mind stretch to meet these new horizons. I challenge anyone to stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see a new expanse not only around him, but in him, too. Hal Borland autumn distance eye All man has to do is cooperate with the big forces, the sun, the rain, the growing urge. Seeds sprout, stems grow, leaves spread in the sunlight. Man plants, weeds, cultivates and harvests. It sounds simple, and it is simple, with the simplicity of great truths. Hal Borland weed simple rain You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. Hal Borland squirrels earth-day nature To know after absence the familiar street and road and village and house is to know again the satisfaction of home. Hal Borland family house home Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon? Hal Borland autumn distance fall There it is, fog, atmospheric moisture still uncertain in destination, not quite weather and not altogether mood, yet partaking of both. Hal Borland moisture fog weather Man is wise and constantly in quest of more wisdom; but the ultimate wisdom, which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. Hal Borland wisdom wise men The earth turns, and the seasons, and for all his pride and power man cannot temper the winds or change their course. They are the unseen tides that shape our days and our years. Hal Borland pride men years
