Kathleen Norris Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• Poets are immersed in process, and I mean process not as an amorphous blur but as a discipline. The hard work of writing has taught me that in matters of the heart, such as writing, or faith, there is no right or wrong way to do it, but only the way of your life. Just paying attention will teach you what bears fruit and what doesn't. But it will be necessary to revise--to doodle, scratch out, erase, even make a mess of things--in order to make it come out right.

  Kathleen Norris

  Hard Work, Writing, Heart

  7 Copy quote

• Only Christ could have brought us all together, in this place, doing such absurd but necessary things.

  Kathleen Norris

  Together, Christ, Absurd

  Kathleen Norris (1997). “The Cloister Walk”, p.56, Penguin

  10 Copy quote

• The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost. Though you may say the “I do” of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married.

  Kathleen Norris

  Mean, Saying Yes, Cost

  4 Copy quote

• One may have been a fool, but there's no foolishness like being bitter.

  Kathleen Norris

  May, Fool, Bitter

  9 Copy quote

• Each and every one of us has one obligation, during the bewildered days of our pilgrimage here: the saving of his own soul, and secondarily and incidentally thereby affecting for good such other souls as come under our influence.

  Kathleen Norris

  Life, Soul, Saving

  4 Copy quote

• Spring seems far off, impossible, but it is coming. Already there is dusk instead of darkness at five in the afternoon; already hope is stirring at the edges of the day.

  Kathleen Norris

  Inspiring, Spring, Moving

  Kathleen Norris (2001). “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography”, p.43, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  10 Copy quote

• I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But who can 'master' beauty, or peace, or joy?

  Kathleen Norris

  Joy, Taught, Masters

  Kathleen Norris (1997). “The Cloister Walk”, p.80, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

• Changing husbands is only changing troubles.

  Kathleen Norris

  Husband, Trouble

  6 Copy quote

• I am learning to see loneliness as a seed that, when planted deep enough, can grow into writing that goes back out into the world.

  Kathleen Norris

  Loneliness, Writing, World

  Kathleen Norris (2001). “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography”, p.129, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  7 Copy quote

• The often heard lament, 'I have so little time,' gives the lie to the
  delusion that the daily is of little significance.

  Kathleen Norris

  Lying, Giving, Littles

  Kathleen Norris (1998). “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and "women's Work"”, p.16, Paulist Press

  4 Copy quote

• Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.

  Kathleen Norris

  Daily Tasks, Essentials, Needs

  Kathleen Norris (1998). “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and "women's Work"”, p.98, Paulist Press

  7 Copy quote

• I've come to see conspiracy theories as the refuge of those who have lost their natural curiosity and ability to cope with change.

  Kathleen Norris

  Curiosity, Conspiracy, Natural

  Kathleen Norris (2001). “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography”, p.71, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  7 Copy quote

• I write what I would like to read.

  Kathleen Norris

  Writing

  4 Copy quote

• Maybe the desert wisdom of the Dakotas can teach us to love anyway, to love what is dying, in the face of death, and not pretend that things are other than they are. The irony and wonder of all of this is that it is the desert's grimness, its stillness and isolation, that brings us back to love.

  Kathleen Norris

  Dying, Desert, Faces

  Kathleen Norris (2001). “Dakota: A Spiritual Geography”, p.139, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  4 Copy quote

• A short-lived fascination with another person may be exciting-I think we've all seen people aglow, in a state of being "in love with love"-but such an attraction is not sustainable over the long run. Paradoxically, human love is sanctified not in the height of attraction and enthusiasm, but in the everyday struggles of living with another person. It is not in romance but in routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest. And that requires commitment.

  Kathleen Norris

  Love, Running, Struggle

  Kathleen Norris (1998). “The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and "women's Work"”, p.62, Paulist Press

  5 Copy quote

• It's all so beautiful . . . the spring . . . and books and music and fires. . . . Why aren't they enough?

  Kathleen Norris

  Beautiful, Spring, Book

  4 Copy quote

• To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and suffer with it.

  Kathleen Norris

  Moving, Suffering, Surrender

  Kathleen Norris (1997). “The Cloister Walk”, p.165, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

• Friendship is an art, and very few persons are born with a natural gift for it.

  Kathleen Norris

  Friendship, Art, Natural Gifts

  Kathleen Thompson Norris (1931). “Hands Full of Living: Talks with American Women”

  174 Copy quote

• If we are lucky, we can give in and rest without feeling guilty. We can stop doing and concentrate on being.

  Kathleen Norris

  Giving, Feelings, Lucky

  6 Copy quote

• Pay close attention to objects, events and natural phenomenon that would otherwise get chewed up in the daily grind.

  Kathleen Norris

  Events, Attention, Pay

  7 Copy quote

• Men are more conventional than women and much slower to change their ideas.

  Kathleen Norris

  Men, Ideas, Conventional

  Kathleen Thompson Norris (1931). “Hands Full of Living: Talks with American Women”

  7 Copy quote

• The demon of acedia -- also called the noonday demon -- is the one that causes the most serious trouble of all. . . . He makes it seem that the sun barely moves, if at all, and . . . he instills in the heart of the monk a hatred for the place, a hatred for his very life itself.

  Kathleen Norris

  Moving, Heart, Hatred

  4 Copy quote

• Any life lived attentively is disillusioning as it forces us to know us as we are.

  Kathleen Norris

  Force, Knows

  Kathleen Norris (1997). “The Cloister Walk”, p.206, Penguin

  4 Copy quote

• You can only see one thing clearly, and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that, and cling to it through thick and thin.

  Kathleen Norris

  Inspirational, Goal, Vision

  Kathleen Thompson Norris (1931). “Hands Full of Living: Talks with American Women”

  6 Copy quote

• In middle age we are apt to reach the horrifying conclusion that all sorrow, all pain, all passionate regret and loss and bitter disillusionment are self-made

  Kathleen Norris

  Pain, Regret, Loss

  Kathleen Thompson Norris (1931). “Hands Full of Living: Talks with American Women”

  4 Copy quote

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