the whole purport of literature...is the notation of the heart. Style is but the faintly contemptible vessel in which the bitter liquid is recommended to the world. Thornton Wilder More Quotes by Thornton Wilder More Quotes From Thornton Wilder Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Thornton Wilder our-townrealize-liferealizing Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to. Thornton Wilder wantcountrytravel Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Thornton Wilder sunflowercoffeesleep You swore you loved me, and laughed and warned me that you would not love me forever. I did not hear you. You were speaking in a language I did not understand. Never, never, I can conceive of a love which is able to foresee its own termination. Love is its own eternity. Love is in every moment of its being: all time. It is the only glimpse we are permitted of what eternity is. So I did not hear you. The words were nonsense. Thornton Wilder ageforeverlove The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose. Thornton Wilder freedom-to-chooseawarenessdecision The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. Thornton Wilder gratitudegriefdeath There is no drunkenness equal to that of remembering whispered words in the night. Thornton Wilder equalremembernight Now he discovered that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other. There may be two equally good, equally gifted, equally beautiful, but theremay never be two that love one another equally well. Thornton Wilder perfectbeautifultwo People are meant to go through life two by two. ’Tain’t natural to be lonesome. Thornton Wilder our-towntwopeople I think I write in order to discover on my shelf a new book that I would enjoy reading, or to see a new play that would engross me. Thornton Wilder readingwritingbook There's nothing like mixing with women to bring out all the foolishness in a man of sense. Thornton Wilder men-and-womenmixingmen Providence has nothing good or high in store for one who does not resolutely aim at something high or good. A purpose is the eternal condition of success. Thornton Wilder doesuccessinspirational Literature is the orchestration of platitudes. Thornton Wilder orchestrationplatitudesliterature It is only in appearance that time is a river. It is rather a vast landscape and it is the eye of the beholder that moves. Thornton Wilder eyetimemoving The condition of leadership adds new degrees of solitariness to the basic solitude of mankind. Every order that we issue increases the extent to which we are alone, and every show of deference which is extended to us separates us from our fellows. Thornton Wilder issuesleadershiporder Those who are silent, self-effacing and attentive become the recipients of confidences. Thornton Wilder silentselfquiet We do not choose the day of our birth nor may we choose the day of our death, yet choice is the sovereign faculty of the mind. Thornton Wilder choicesmindmay The future is the most expensive luxury in the world. Thornton Wilder luxuryexpensiveworld How terrifying and glorious the role of man if, indeed, without guidance and without consolation he must create from his own vitals the meaning for his existence and write the rules whereby he lives. Thornton Wilder roleswritingmen true influence over another comes not from a moments eloquence nor from any happily chosen word, but from the accumulation of a lifetime's thoughts stored up in the eyes...the secret smile in the eyes of a friend Thornton Wilder influenceeyesecret
