Quotes from Meadowland: the private life of an English field

John Lewis-Stempel ·  308 pages

Rating: (692 votes)


“you rise at dawn in May you can savour the world before the pandemonium din of the Industrial Revolution and 24/7 shopping.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


“To stand alone in a field in England and listen to the morning chorus of the birds is to remember why life is precious.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


“Almost all the things I love are to do with grass. Geese, sheep, cows, horses. Even dogs eat grass.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


“They killed farming a year or so later. And they killed it by putting cabs on tractors. No longer was the farmer alive to the elements, or even close to the earth.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


“I have decided to sleep under the stars... Tonight heaven is my roof, and the hedges my walls... The field folds me in soft wings.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field



“And nothing in nature is wasted. The bodies of the dead meadow ants will go to nourish the soil of the meadow. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Flesh to flesh.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


“High summer and one can hear the universe; so overwhelming is e accumulated sound of growing in the meadow and in hedges, of pollen being released, of particles moving in the heat, that all the minute motions together create a continuous him: the sound of summer.”
― John Lewis-Stempel, quote from Meadowland: the private life of an English field


About the author

John Lewis-Stempel
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“The storerooms are full of hearts.
This is the city of spare parts.”
― Sylvia Plath, quote from Plath: Poems


“Her voice, he thought, was like water running over pebbles in sunshine.”
― Katherine Rundell, quote from The Girl Savage


“Why did everyone else seem fine but I felt as if I were living in a cage I'd outgrown two shoe sizes ago?”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Dangerous


“I’m surprised you don’t have any tattoos. I thought that was part of the artist uniform.”
“Who says I should be that much of a cliché? I’m naturally a masterpiece.”
― Renee Ericson, quote from More Than Water


“Adieu the clang of war’s alarms! To other deeds my soul is strung, And sweeter notes shall now be sung; My harp shall all its powers reveal, To tell the tale my heart must feel; Love, Love alone, my lyre shall claim, In songs of bliss and sighs of flame.”
― Kathleen Baldwin, quote from Mistaken Kiss


Interesting books

Taran Wanderer
(32.7K)
Taran Wanderer
by Lloyd Alexander
The Soldiers of Halla
(20.9K)
The Soldiers of Hall...
by D.J. MacHale
Pure
(21.9K)
Pure
by Julianna Baggott
Unscrupulous
(1.8K)
Unscrupulous
by Avery Aster
The Contortionist's Handbook
(9K)
The Contortionist's...
by Craig Clevenger
Lodestar
(3.8K)
Lodestar
by Shannon Messenger

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.