--- title: "3 Compass Quotes By Rebecca Solnit" description: "3 Compass quotes by Rebecca Solnit. Plus more from Rebecca Solnit and more Compass sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-w_955431.png" --- > [Stories are compasses and architecture, we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them, and to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-we-navigate-by-them-we-build/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-w_955431.png) > [Sense of place is the sixth sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-internal-compass-and-map-made-by/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a0/rebecca-solnit-569_compass_sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-int_1336153.png) > [What's your story? It's all in the telling. Stories are compasses and architecture; we navigate by them, and to be without a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/what-s-your-story-it-s-all-in-the-telling-stories-are-compasses-and-2/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c98/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_what-s-your-story-it-s-all-in-the-tellin_2914727.jpg) ## Other authors on Compass - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-shakespeare-95899.jpg) William Shakespeare 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compass/william-shakespeare/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-stephen-covey-86975.jpg) Stephen Covey 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compass/stephen-covey/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-leonardo-da-vinci-59740.jpg) Leonardo da Vinci 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compass/leonardo-da-vinci/) ## More by Rebecca Solnit > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/joy-doesn-t-betray-but-sustains-activism-and-when-you-face-a-politics/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“To love someone is to put yourself in their place, we say, which is to put ourself in their story, or figure out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/to-love-someone-is-to-put-yourself-in-their-place-we-say-which-is-to/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/people-have-always-been-good-at-imagining-the-end-of-the-world-which/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Whose maps are we trying to read? And what are we trying to draw? It's so common to live in a place without truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/whose-maps-are-we-trying-to-read-and-what-are-we-trying-to-draw-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I was being cured of soldiering on endlessly: my job was now to be still, which had become almost easy at last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-was-being-cured-of-soldiering-on-endlessly-my-job-was-now-to-be/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [In the aftermath of 9/11, people had not a good time, but a deep, profound, rousing time, woke up from their ennui and isolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-the-aftermath-of-9-11-people-had-not-a-good-time-but-a-deep/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I wonder now about Demeter and Persephone. Maybe Persephone was glad to run off with the king of death to his underground realm, maybe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-wonder-now-about-demeter-and-persephone-maybe-persephone-was-glad/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [ \[In mountaineering, if\] we look for private experience rather than public history, even getting to the top becomes an optional narrative rather than the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-mountaineering-if-we-look-for-private-experience-rather-than/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [For me, being in a car or on an airplane is like being in limbo. It's this dead zone between two places. But to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/for-me-being-in-a-car-or-on-an-airplane-is-like-being-in-limbo-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/how-do-you-calculate-upon-the-unforeseen-it-seems-to-be-an-art-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/walking-shares-with-making-and-working-that-crucial-element-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Marriage equality is a threat: to inequality. It’s a boon to everyone who values and benefits from equality. It’s for all of us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/marriage-equality-is-a-threat-to-inequality-it-s-a-boon-to-everyone/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Mountaineering is always spoken of as though summiting is conquest, but as you get higher, the world gets bigger, and you feel smaller in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/mountaineering-is-always-spoken-of-as-though-summiting-is-conquest/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“A procession is a participants' journey, while a parade is a performance with an audience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/a-procession-is-a-participants-journey-while-a-parade-is-a/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compass/rebecca-solnit/#itemlist", "name": "3 Compass Quotes By Rebecca Solnit", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Stories are compasses and architecture, we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them, and to be without a story is to be lost in the vastness of a world that spreads in all directions like arctic tundra or sea ice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Solnit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-we-navigate-by-them-we-build/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-w_955431.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-w_955431.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/rebecca-solnit-569_architecture_stories-are-compasses-and-architecture-w_955431.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Stories are compasses and architecture, we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of…” — Rebecca Solnit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sense of place is the sixth sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca Solnit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-internal-compass-and-map-made-by/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a0/rebecca-solnit-569_compass_sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-int_1336153.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a0/rebecca-solnit-569_compass_sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-int_1336153.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a0/rebecca-solnit-569_compass_sense-of-place-is-the-sixth-sense-an-int_1336153.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sense of place is the sixth sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.” — Rebecca Solnit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What's your story? 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