--- title: "1 Dwelling on the past Quotes By Peter Matthiessen" description: "1 Dwelling on the past quotes by Peter Matthiessen. Plus more from Peter Matthiessen and more Dwelling on the past sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/peter-matthiessen-5795_alive_zen-is-really-just-a-reminder-to-stay-al_668281.jpg" --- > [Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake. We tend to daydream all the time, speculating about the future and dwelling on the past. Zen practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/zen-is-really-just-a-reminder-to-stay-alive-and-to-be-awake-we-tend/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f2/peter-matthiessen-5795_alive_zen-is-really-just-a-reminder-to-stay-al_668281.jpg) ## More by Peter Matthiessen > [Alec Wilkinson is a spare, clear, and lucid writer who works in stylistic simplicity with material that is not simple at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/alec-wilkinson-is-a-spare-clear-and-lucid-writer-who-works-in/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/figures-dark-beneath-their-loads-pass-down-the-far-bank-of-the-river/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [I think in any writing you're paying attention to detail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/i-think-in-any-writing-you-re-paying-attention-to-detail/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [The great stillness in these landscapes that once made me restless seeps into me day by day, and with it the unreasonable feeling that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/the-great-stillness-in-these-landscapes-that-once-made-me-restless/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“...experience was static in the valley; it was older than time itself, for time was a thing of but two generations, dated by moons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/experience-was-static-in-the-valley-it-was-older-than-time-itself-for/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“The central feature of the practice of meditation and hard work known as Zen is that, as Matthiessen says, it “has no patience with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/the-central-feature-of-the-practice-of-meditation-and-hard-work-known/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [Be light, light, light - full of light!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/be-light-light-light-full-of-light/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [For some time I watch the coming of the night? Above is the glistening galaxy of childhood, now hidden in the Western world by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/for-some-time-i-watch-the-coming-of-the-night-above-is-the-glistening/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“Nonfiction at its best is like fashioning a cabinet. It can be elegant and very beautiful but it can never be sculpture. Captive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/nonfiction-at-its-best-is-like-fashioning-a-cabinet-it-can-be-elegant/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [Soon the child’s clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions, and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/soon-the-child-s-clear-eye-is-clouded-over-by-ideas-and-opinions/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“In the book of Job, the Lord demands, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “I was there!”-surely that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/in-the-book-of-job-the-lord-demands-where-wast-thou-when-i-laid-the/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [I meditate for the last time on this mountain that is bare, though others all around are white with snow. Like the bare peak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/i-meditate-for-the-last-time-on-this-mountain-that-is-bare-though/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [I was just very interested in the American frontier and the growth of capitalism - those enormous fortunes that were being made, more often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/i-was-just-very-interested-in-the-american-frontier-and-the-growth-of/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“A far cicada rings high and clear over the river’s heavy wash. Morning glory, a lone dandelion, cassia, orchids. So far from the nearest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/a-far-cicada-rings-high-and-clear-over-the-river-s-heavy-wash-morning/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [I ... had what Kierkegaard called 'the sickness of infinitude,' wandering from one path to another with no real recognition that I was embarked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/i-had-what-kierkegaard-called-the-sickness-of-infinitude-wandering/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dwelling-on-the-past/peter-matthiessen/#itemlist", "name": "1 Dwelling on the past Quotes By Peter Matthiessen", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake. 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