“They say experience is the best teacher, but I'll be damned if I know what it teaches you.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“For once I am living my life rather than watching it pass in review.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“Away acrost his valley he sees Black Mountain rising jagged to the sky...and if he looks to the left on past it, he sees all the furtherest ranges, line on line. Purple and blue and blue again and smoky until you can't tell the mountains apart from the sky. Lord, it'll make a man think something, seeing that. It'll make a man think deep.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“Nothing is ever over, nothing is ever ended, and worlds open up within the world we know.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“...for they was never a young man yet who don't want to go out and right a wrong, or kill a man, or have to do something to earn his right to what is there for the taking, all along. Only he don't think he can ask, nor take, without earning it. Without no pain. Oftener than not, a young man's a regular fool.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“I had before me an object lesson, I thought: two ways to face the world. One way as embodied by this old woman—simple, unassuming, a kind of peasant dignity, a naturalness inherent in her every move. The other, exemplified by the girl—smartness, sophistication, veneer without substance. I was conscious that I have now opted for the old woman’s way, have thrown in my lot with a creature I would have jeered at a year ago. My present trip to the mountains is indeed a trip to that wellspring of naturalness she symbolized. And I admired my choice: the correct choice, the only choice for a sensitive and moral man in my dilemma.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
“Pearl is the only person I ever knew who said things like “paths in life” out loud.”
― Lee Smith, quote from Oral History
Lee Smith
Born place: in Grundy, Virginia, The United States
Born date November 1, 1944
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“I don't think of myself as evil, but no can say they've led a perfect life.”
― H.P. Mallory, quote from Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
“Consummation is consumption
We cannot consummate our bliss and not consume
All joys are cakes and vanish in eating
All bliss is sugar's melting in the mouth”
― Wilfred Owen, quote from The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
“She decided to be honest. “You”—she pointed at Dee-Ann—“kill at the slightest provocation. I hit for no other reason than I feel like it. And MacDermot is rude and abrasive.” Cella put her arms around each woman’s shoulders and hugged them in tight. “Oh, my God! I just realized. I love you guys!”
“You’re touchin’ me,” Dee-Ann complained.
“Yeah, but at least this time it’s not ’cause I’m hitting you.”
― quote from Big Bad Beast
“Nothing in my tale seemed to surprised the woman. The cat, on the other hand, seemed not to find a word of it credible.”
― Margo Lanagan, quote from Tender Morsels
“I like to live in the past. I don't think people are going to get much fun in the future”
― William Manchester, quote from The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
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