---
title: "1 Whispers Quotes By William H. Gass"
description: "1 Whispers quotes by William H. Gass. Plus more from William H. Gass and more Whispers sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebf/william-h-gass-4166_daily-life_in-front-of-the-mound-a-mile-of-naked-st_2162448.png"
---

> [“In front of the mound: a mile of naked strangers. In groups of twenty, like smokes, they are directed to the other side by a man with a truncheon and a whip. It will not help to ink in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/in-front-of-the-mound-a-mile-of-naked-strangers-in-groups-of-twenty/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebf/william-h-gass-4166_daily-life_in-front-of-the-mound-a-mile-of-naked-st_2162448.png)

## Other authors on Whispers

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-e-l-james-470.jpg) E.L. James 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whispers/e-l-james/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-tahereh-mafi-88649.jpg) Tahereh Mafi 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whispers/tahereh-mafi/)

## More by William H. Gass

> [“Try to remember that artists in these catastrophic times, along with the serious scientists, are the only salvation for us, if there is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/try-to-remember-that-artists-in-these-catastrophic-times-along-with/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“If someone asks me, “Why do you write?” I can reply by pointing out that it is a very dumb question. Nevertheless, there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/if-someone-asks-me-why-do-you-write-i-can-reply-by-pointing-out-that/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [The things that stayed were things that didn't matter except they stayed, night and day, all seasons the same, and were peaceful to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/the-things-that-stayed-were-things-that-didn-t-matter-except-they/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [When book and reader's furrowed brow meet, it isn't always the book that's stupid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/when-book-and-reader-s-furrowed-brow-meet-it-isn-t-always-the-book/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [Getting even is one reason for writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/getting-even-is-one-reason-for-writing/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“It's a simple world for her. A curtain fluttering - that's how she is - lives, moves - obediently, yet with every appearnace of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/it-s-a-simple-world-for-her-a-curtain-fluttering-that-s-how-she-is/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“I dreamed my lips would drift down your back like a skiff on a river. I'd follow a vein with the point of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/i-dreamed-my-lips-would-drift-down-your-back-like-a-skiff-on-a-river/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“Yes, we call it recursive, the act of reading, of looping the loop, of continually returning to an earlier group of words, behaving like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/yes-we-call-it-recursive-the-act-of-reading-of-looping-the-loop-of/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“Then let us have a language worthy of our world, a democratic style where rich and well-born nouns can roister with some sluttish verb…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/then-let-us-have-a-language-worthy-of-our-world-a-democratic-style/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“Excellence is inconveniently difficult.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/excellence-is-inconveniently-difficult/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [We must take our sentences seriously, which means we must understand them philosophically, and the odd thing is that the few who do, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/we-must-take-our-sentences-seriously-which-means-we-must-understand/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [We converse as we live by repeating, by combining and recombining a few elements over and over again just as nature does when of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/we-converse-as-we-live-by-repeating-by-combining-and-recombining-a/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“Why were they whining then?...whining, damn them, whining… Because they’d have to give up their hope of living like an animal and return to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/why-were-they-whining-then-whining-damn-them-whining-because-they-d/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [Sports, politics, and religion are the three passions of the badly educated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/sports-politics-and-religion-are-the-three-passions-of-the-badly/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

> [“Then Jethro Furber wondered whether Omensetter wasn't an actor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/then-jethro-furber-wondered-whether-omensetter-wasn-t-an-actor/)

[William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/)

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                        "text": "“In front of the mound: a mile of naked strangers. In groups of twenty, like smokes, they are directed to the other side by a man with a truncheon and a whip. It will not help to ink in his face. Several men with barrows collect clothes. There are young women still with attractive breasts. There are family groups, many small children crying quietly, tears oozing from their eyes like sweat. In whispers people comfort one another. Soon, they say. Soon. No one wails and no one begs. Arms mingle with other arms like fallen limbs, lie like shawls across bony shoulders. A loose gray calm descends. It will be soon . . . soon. A grandmother coos at the infant she cuddles, her gray hair hiding all but the feet. The baby giggles when it’s chucked. A father speaks earnestly to his son and points at the heavens where surely there is an explanation; it is doubtless their true destination. The color of the sky cannot be colored in. So the son is lied to right up to the last. Father does not cup his boy’s wet cheeks in his hands and say, You shall die, my son, and never be remembered. The little salamander you were frightened of at first, and grew to love and buried in the garden, the long walk to school your legs learned, what shape our daily life, our short love, gave you, the meaning of your noisy harmless games, every small sensation that went to make your eager and persistent gazing will be gone; not simply the butterflies you fancied, or the bodies you yearned to see uncovered—look, there they are: the inner thighs, the nipples, pubes—or what we all might have finally gained from the toys you treasured, the dreams you peopled, but especially your scarcely budded eyes, and that rich and gentle quality of consciousness which I hoped one day would have been uniquely yours like the most subtle of flavors—the skin, the juice, the sweet pulp of a fine fruit—well, son, your possibilities, as unrealized as the erections of your penis—in a moment—soon—will be ground out like a burnt wet butt beneath a callous boot and disappear in the dirt. Only our numbers will be remembered—not that you or I died, but that there were so many of us. And that we were.”",
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