We are what we imagine. Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves. Our best destiny is to imagine, at least, completely, who and what, and that we are. The greatest tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined. N. Scott Momaday More Quotes by N. Scott Momaday More Quotes From N. Scott Momaday The character of the landscape changes from hour to hour, day to day, season to season. Nothing of the earth can be taken for granted; you feel that Creation is going on in your sight. You see things in the high air that you do not see farther down in the lowlands. In the high country all objects bear upon you, and you touch hard upon the earth. From my home I can see the huge, billowing clouds; they draw close upon me and merge with my life. N. Scott Momaday taken character country My father was a painter and he taught art. He once said to me, 'I never knew an Indian child who could not draw.' N. Scott Momaday father children art It is here that I can concentrate my mind upon the Remembered Earth. It is here that I am most conscious of being, here that wonder comes upon my blood, here I want to live forever; and it is no matter that I must die. N. Scott Momaday mind forever blood There was only the dark infinity in which nothing was. And something happened. At the distance of a star something happened, and everything began. The Word did not come into being, but it was. It did not break upon the silence, but it was older than the silence and the silence was made of it. N. Scott Momaday distance stars dark The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see. N. Scott Momaday stature distance Her name is Ago, and she belonged to the last culture to evolve in North America. N. Scott Momaday names culture america I have a pretty good knowledge of the Indian world by virtue of living on several different reservations and being exposed to several different cultures and languages. N. Scott Momaday different culture world The turn of the century was the lowest point for the devastation of Indian culture by disease and persecution, and it's a wonder to me that they survived it and have not only maintained their identity, but are actually growing stronger in some ways. The situation is still very bad, especially in certain geographical areas, but there are more Indians going to school, more Indians becoming professional people, more Indians assuming full responsibility in our society. We have a long way to go, but we're making great strides. N. Scott Momaday growing-stronger responsibility school In the beginning was the word, and it was spoken. N. Scott Momaday christ-consciousness bread-of-life bible He used both hands when he made the bear. Imagine a bear proceeding from the hands of God. N. Scott Momaday imagine bears hands The landscape of the American West has to be seen to believed and has to be believed to be seen. N. Scott Momaday american-west landscape west To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. N. Scott Momaday sun morning looks Loneliness is an aspect of the land. N. Scott Momaday aspect loneliness land My line of vision was such that the creature filled the moon like a fossil. It had gone there, I thought, to live and die, for there, of all places, was its small definition made whole and eternal N. Scott Momaday vision moon gone Although my grandmother lived out her long life in the shadow of Rainy Mountian, the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like memory in her blood N. Scott Momaday grandmother memories blood I am a member of the Kiowa Gourd Dance Society; I visit sacred places such as Devil's Tower and the Medicine Wheel. These places are important to me, because they've been made sacred by sacrifice, by the investment of blood and experience and story. N. Scott Momaday i-am me experience dance Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradition. N. Scott Momaday tradition matter writing blood The spiritual reality of the Indian world is very evident, very highly developed. I think it affects the life of every Indian person in one way or another. N. Scott Momaday spiritual life reality world I have deep roots in this Oklahoma soil. It makes me proud. N. Scott Momaday deep me proud roots Sometimes, I think the best kind of poem is one in which there is an acute balance between what is humorous and that which is very serious. That balance is very hard to strike. But it can be done. N. Scott Momaday best balance serious sometimes
