---
title: "2 Better than you Quotes By Willa Cather"
description: "2 Better than you quotes by Willa Cather. Plus more from Willa Cather and more Better than you sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png"
---

> [If you don't keep and guard and mature your force, and above all, have time and quiet to perfect your work, you will be writing things not much better than you did five years ago.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-your-force-and-above-all-have-2/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png)

> [If you love the good thing vitally, enough to give up for it all that one must give up, then you must hate the cheap thing just as hard. I tell you, there is such a thing as creative hate!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enough-to-give-up-for-it-all-that/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d5/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enoug_2930441.jpg)

## More by Willa Cather

> [The end is nothing; the road is all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/the-end-is-nothing-the-road-is-all/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/of-all-the-bewildering-things-about-a-new-country-the-absence-of/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [Success is less interesting than struggle. There is great pleasure in the effort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/success-is-less-interesting-than-struggle-there-is-great-pleasure-in/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“I only knew the schoolbooks said he "died in the wilderness, of a broken heart." "More than him has done that," said Antonia sadly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/i-only-knew-the-schoolbooks-said-he-died-in-the-wilderness-of-a/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“Have the last word ma'm," he said cheerfully. "It's a lady's privilege.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/have-the-last-word-ma-m-he-said-cheerfully-it-s-a-lady-s-privilege/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> ["More than him has done that," said Antonia sadly, and the girls murmured assent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/more-than-him-has-done-that-said-antonia-sadly-and-the-girls-murmured/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [Nothing mattered ... but writing books, and living the kind of life that made it possible to write them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/nothing-mattered-but-writing-books-and-living-the-kind-of-life-that/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“Money and office and success are the consolations of impotence. Fortune turns kind to such solid people and lets them suck their bone in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/money-and-office-and-success-are-the-consolations-of-impotence/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [But she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/but-she-still-had-that-something-which-fires-the-imagination-could/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“You remember how homesick I used to get, and what long talks we used to have coming from school? We've someway always felt alike…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/you-remember-how-homesick-i-used-to-get-and-what-long-talks-we-used/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“He placed this book in my grandmother's hands, looked at her entreatingly, and said, with an earnestness which I shall never forget, "Te-e-ach, te-e-ach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/he-placed-this-book-in-my-grandmother-s-hands-looked-at-her/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [The sincerity of feeling that is possible between a writer and a reader is one of the finest things I know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/the-sincerity-of-feeling-that-is-possible-between-a-writer-and-a/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [Our tree became the talking tree of the fairy tale; legends and stories nestled like birds in its branches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/our-tree-became-the-talking-tree-of-the-fairy-tale-legends-and/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

> [“Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/isn-t-it-queer-there-are-only-two-or-three-human-stories-and-they-go/)

[Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Better than you Quotes By Willa Cather",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "If you don't keep and guard and mature your force, and above all, have time and quiet to perfect your work, you will be writing things not much better than you did five years ago.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Willa Cather"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-your-force-and-above-all-have-2/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“If you don't keep and guard and mature your force, and above all, have time and quiet to perfect your work…” — Willa Cather",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "If you love the good thing vitally, enough to give up for it all that one must give up, then you must hate the cheap thing just as hard. I tell you, there is such a thing as creative hate! “A contempt that drives you through fire, makes you risk everything and lose everything, makes you a long sight better than you ever knew you could be.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Willa Cather"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enough-to-give-up-for-it-all-that/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d5/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enoug_2930441.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d5/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enoug_2930441.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d5/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-love-the-good-thing-vitally-enoug_2930441.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“If you love the good thing vitally, enough to give up for it all that one must give up, then you must hate…” — Willa Cather",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/",
            "name": "Better than you Quotes by Willa Cather",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6f/willa-cather-634_better-than-you_if-you-don-t-keep-and-guard-and-mature-y_2859274.png"
            },
            "description": "2 Better than you quotes by Willa Cather. Plus more from Willa Cather and more Better than you sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Better Than You",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Willa Cather",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-than-you/willa-cather/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```