The brook would lose its song if we removed the rocks. Wallace Stegner More Quotes by Wallace Stegner More Quotes From Wallace Stegner You can't retire to weakness -- you've got to learn to control strength. Wallace Stegner retiring weakness inspirational By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His most valuable tools are his sense and his memory; what happens in his mind is primarily pictures. Wallace Stegner serious mind memories It is almost impossible to write fiction about the Mormons, for the reason that Mormon institutions and Mormon society are so peculiar that they call for constant explanation. Wallace Stegner peculiar writing fiction Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious goal, sometimes not. You enlarge yourself because that is the kind of individual you are. You grow because you are not content not to. Wallace Stegner kind goal matter No one who has studied Western history can cling to the belief that the Nazis invented genocide. Wallace Stegner nazi genocide belief Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable. Wallace Stegner towns character people