Quotes from The Whistling Season

Ivan Doig ·  345 pages

Rating: (13.9K votes)


“Childhood is the one story that stands by itself in every soul.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“My books already threatened to take over my part of the room and keep on going . . . whatever cargoes of words I could lay my hands on I gave safe harbor.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“What scrunched under our overshoes as we trudged through the stubble of the grainfield was the nasty mix of moistureless snow and windblown dirt that we called “snirt.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“Nightly awaits that sweet address
Principality of Sleep
Happy Land of Forgetfullness”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“that whole fussy room still carried an atmosphere of having been crocheted into existence rather than carpentered.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season



“Provider of moonbeams when I wanted full illumination.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“If I have learned anything in a lifetime spent overseeing schools, it is that childhood is the one story that stands by itself in every soul.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


“As I mounted the stairs, my lips silently tried out the two words “contrary warrior” together.”
― Ivan Doig, quote from The Whistling Season


About the author

Ivan Doig
Born place: in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, The United States
Born date June 27, 1939
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I stay because there is an extraordinary difference between thinking of you and seeing you in the mortal flesh. I stay for the one moment you smile throughout the day. Or to watch you run your hand through your hair. Because I must, must –" his breath was short – "must be near you, in any way I can.”
― Rebecca Maizel, quote from Stolen Nights


“She did not delude herself into expecting Francis to love her. He had never been taught how to love, but had an arresting way of looking pleased at Adah's achievements.”
― Buchi Emecheta, quote from Second Class Citizen


“Within families, you’re stuck with the character they think you are, whatever you do. You become a war hero and all that your parents ever talk about is something supposedly funny you used to do when you were in nursery school.”
― Nicci French, quote from Secret Smile


“We cling to our hearts, to what warms them, to what gives us hope, to things we can look upon and know the world will someday be okay again.”
― Richard Doetsch, quote from The 13th Hour


“It was one of those rare times of shared happiness, of perfect contentment. We had a feeling of expectation, that what was already wonderful would only get better and better as time went on. These moments are one of the rarest, most fragile things in the world. You have to seize the day; you have to recall all the rotten, dirty things you endured to earn this peace. You have to remember to enjoy each minute, each hour, because although you may feel like it's going to last forever, the world plans otherwise. You want to be grateful for every precious second, but you simply can't do it. It's not in human nature to live life to the fullest. Haven't your ever noticed that equal amounts of pain and joy are not, in fact, equal in duration? Pain drags on until you wonder if life will ever be bearable again; pleasure, though, once it's reached its peak, fades faster than a trodden gardenia, and your memory searches in vain for the sweet scent.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


Interesting books

A Room of One's Own
(80.4K)
A Room of One's Own
by Virginia Woolf
Hiroshima
(47.6K)
Hiroshima
by John Hersey
A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories
(32.6K)
A Good Man is Hard t...
by Flannery O'Connor
A Voice in the Wind
(61.7K)
A Voice in the Wind
by Francine Rivers
The Book of Disquiet
(14.8K)
The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa
All Things Bright and Beautiful
(61.1K)
All Things Bright an...
by James Herriot

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.