--- title: "1 Wildness Absorbing Quotes By William H. Gass" description: "1 Wildness Absorbing quotes by William H. Gass. Plus more from William H. Gass and more Wildness Absorbing sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/897/william-h-gass-4166_greatest-gift_wild-eyes-were-another-sign-it-is-someth_1579002.jpg" --- > [“Wild eyes were another sign. It is something I have seldom seen — the expression of an ecstatic state — though much is foolishly written of them, as if they grew like Jerusalem artichokes along the road. The eyes are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/wild-eyes-were-another-sign-it-is-something-i-have-seldom-seen-the/) [William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/897/william-h-gass-4166_greatest-gift_wild-eyes-were-another-sign-it-is-someth_1579002.jpg) ## 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/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wildness-absorbing/william-h-gass/#itemlist", "name": "1 Wildness Absorbing Quotes By William H. Gass", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Wild eyes were another sign. It is something I have seldom seen — the expression of an ecstatic state — though much is foolishly written of them, as if they grew like Jerusalem artichokes along the road. The eyes are black, right enough, whatever their normal color is; they are black because their perception is condensed to a coal, because the touch and taste and perfume of the lover, the outcry of a dirty word, a welcome river, have been reduced in the heat of passion to a black ash, and this unburnt residue of oxidation, this calyx, replaces the pupil so it no longer receives but sends, and every hair is on end, though perhaps only outspread on a pillow, and the nostrils are flared, mouth agape, cheeks sucked so the whole face seems as squeezed as a juiced fruit; I know, for once Lou went into that wildness while we were absorbing one another, trying to kiss, not merely forcefully, not the skull of our skeleton, but the skull and all the bones on which the essential self is hung, kiss so the shape of the soul is stirred too, that's what is called the ultimate French, the furtherest fuck, when a cock makes a concept cry out and climax; I know, for more than once, though not often, I shuddered into that other region, when a mouth drew me through its generosity into the realm of unravel, and every sensation lay extended as a lake, every tie was loosed, and the glue of things dissolved. I knew I wore the wild look then. The greatest gift you can give another human being is to let them warm you till, in passing beyond pleasure, your defenses fall, your ego surrenders, its structure melts, its towers topple, lies, fancies, vanities, blow away in no wind, and you return, not to the clay you came from — the unfired vessel — but to the original moment of inspiration, when you were the unabbreviated breath of God.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William H. 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