I had as yet no notion that life every now and then becomes literature—not for long, of course, but long enough to be what we best remember, and often enough so that what we eventually come to mean by life… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
...life every now and then becomes literature...as if life had been made and not happened. — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
At the time I did not know that stories of life are often more like rivers than books. — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
“In this story of the outside world and the inside world with a fire between, the outside world of little screwups recedes now for… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
Probably most catastrophes end this way without an ending, the dead not even knowing how they died...,those who loved them forever questioning "this unnecessary… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
If our father had had his way, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him. — Norman Maclean Copy Share
“I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river that went by and I who watched... Eventually the watcher joined the river, and there was only one of us. I believe it was the river. Even the anatomy of a river was laid bare. Not far downstream was a dry channel where the river had run… — Norman Maclean Copy Share
Unless we are willing to escape into sentimentality or fantasy, often the best we can do with catastrophes, even our own, is to find… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
As for my father, I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
“On the Big Blackfoot River above the mouth of Belmont Creek the banks are fringed by large Ponderosa pines. In the slanting sun of… — Norman Maclean Copy Share Image
