--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Wherever you turn your eyes the world can…" description: "\"“Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png" --- # Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like… ![“Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?” quote by Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png) > ““Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?”” [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeing the world requires openness; willingness transforms ordinary perception into wonder. **In simple terms:** Openness reveals wonder. Key Takeaway Cultivate willingness to notice. Themes perception wonder openness Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - daily walks - art observation - travel - meditation Key Concepts Phenomenology mindfulness Questions to Reflect On - How does willingness alter your experience? - What prevents you from seeing the extraordinary? A Different Perspective Willingness alone may not change reality; external factors matter. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Transfiguration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transfiguration/) ## Related quotes > [The Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/the-lord-is-more-constant-and-far-more-extravagant-than-it-seems-to/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/psalm-119-37/turn-my-eyes-from-looking-at-worthless-things-and-give-me-life-in/) Psalm 119:37 > [Oh! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/oh-that-you-could-turn-your-eyes-towards-the-napes-of-your-necks-and/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [But why look back at all? Why turn your eyes to your shadow, when, by looking upward, you see your rainbow in the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-mitchell/but-why-look-back-at-all-why-turn-your-eyes-to-your-shadow-when-by/) [Maria Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-mitchell/) > [To turn one's eyes away from Jesus means to turn them to the Law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/to-turn-one-s-eyes-away-from-jesus-means-to-turn-them-to-the-law/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [“If I turn mine eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/if-i-turn-mine-eyes-upon-myself-i-find-myself-a-traitor-with-the-rest/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [When I woke up in you, Cassie. I wasn't fully human until I saw myself in your eyes." And then there are real human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-yancey/when-i-woke-up-in-you-cassie-i-wasn-t-fully-human-until-i-saw-myself/) [Rick Yancey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-yancey/) > [If I should see your eyes again, I know how far their look would go -- Back to a morning in the park With…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-teasdale/if-i-should-see-your-eyes-again-i-know-how-far-their-look-would-go/) [Sara Teasdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-teasdale/) > [“by the time you open your eyes, the world might have already changed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matsuri-hino/by-the-time-you-open-your-eyes-the-world-might-have-already-changed/) [Matsuri Hino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matsuri-hino/) > [Looking over the country with those sunken eyes as if the world out there had been altered or made suspect by what he'd seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/looking-over-the-country-with-those-sunken-eyes-as-if-the-world-out/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [Show me what lies just beyond my eyes. Would you take me to the world where my spirit flies?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twiztid/show-me-what-lies-just-beyond-my-eyes-would-you-take-me-to-the-world/) [Twiztid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twiztid/) > [“Bring new eyes to a world even new lenses and presto, new world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/bring-new-eyes-to-a-world-even-new-lenses-and-presto-new-world/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“You see demons in the eyes of the world, and the world sees bottomless pit in yours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-shusterman/you-see-demons-in-the-eyes-of-the-world-and-the-world-sees-bottomless/) [Neal Shusterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-shusterman/) > [In my eyes you are the world but in yours you are one person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-my-eyes-you-are-the-world-but-in-yours-you-are-one-person/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) ## More by Marilynne Robinson > [“But I’ve developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read, and reading more books, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/but-i-ve-developed-a-great-reputation-for-wisdom-by-ordering-more/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [For our purposes as human beings, the mind is the center of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/for-our-purposes-as-human-beings-the-mind-is-the-center-of-everything/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“I think sometimes there might be an advantage in making people aware how worn and stale these old transgressions are. It might take some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/i-think-sometimes-there-might-be-an-advantage-in-making-people-aware/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [There are two occasions when the sacred beauty of Creation becomes dazzlingly apparent, and they occur together. One is when we feel our mortal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/there-are-two-occasions-when-the-sacred-beauty-of-creation-becomes/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [My Calvinism persuades me that we are open to God, in the sense that we are not delimited, not organisms with fixed attributes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/my-calvinism-persuades-me-that-we-are-open-to-god-in-the-sense-that/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“You can know a thing to death and be for all purposes completely ignorant of it. A man can know his father, or his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/you-can-know-a-thing-to-death-and-be-for-all-purposes-completely/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [I listen to Bach a great deal. In general I like to listen to hymns and liturgical music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/i-listen-to-bach-a-great-deal-in-general-i-like-to-listen-to-hymns/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“Every writer I know, when asked how to become a writer, responds with one word:Read.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/every-writer-i-know-when-asked-how-to-become-a-writer-responds-with/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“Faith for her was habit and family loyalty, a reverence for the Bible which was also literary, admiration for her mother and father. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/faith-for-her-was-habit-and-family-loyalty-a-reverence-for-the-bible/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“Prayer is a discipline in truthfulness, in honesty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/prayer-is-a-discipline-in-truthfulness-in-honesty/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.’ There are pleasures to be found where you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/the-full-soul-loatheth-an-honeycomb-but-to-the-hungry-soul-every/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [I sometimes am discouraged by what seems to be a sort of conventional disparagement of humankind. I think often people feel that they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/i-sometimes-am-discouraged-by-what-seems-to-be-a-sort-of-conventional/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [Now that I look back, it seems to me that in all that deep darkness a miracle was preparing. So I am right to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/now-that-i-look-back-it-seems-to-me-that-in-all-that-deep-darkness-a/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“My grandfather once told her if you couldn't read with cold feet, there wouldn't be a literate soul in the state of Maine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/my-grandfather-once-told-her-if-you-couldn-t-read-with-cold-feet/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“Cranky old Leviticus gave us—gave Christ—not only “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” but also the rather forgotten “Thou shalt love the stranger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/cranky-old-leviticus-gave-us-gave-christ-not-only-thou-shalt-love-thy/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) [Explore all 450 Marilynne Robinson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) ## More Transfiguration quotes > [Listen to Jesus and follow him. That's the message of the Transfiguration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/listen-to-jesus-and-follow-him-that-s-the-message-of-the/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“If the time should ever come when what is now called science, thus familiarised to men, shall be ready to put on, as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/if-the-time-should-ever-come-when-what-is-now-called-science-thus/) [William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/) > [Our Lord's descent from the holy heights of the Mount of Transfiguration was more than a physical return from greater to lesser altitudes; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-e-talmage/our-lord-s-descent-from-the-holy-heights-of-the-mount-of/) [James E. Talmage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-e-talmage/) > [Existence is god called through love, provoked through love. The moment you become capable of prayer, existence becomes god. The moment you become capable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/existence-is-god-called-through-love-provoked-through-love-the-moment/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [“New names cost. They’d sacrificed things in their transfigurations. Tyrell Meeks. Imani Greene. Razz. Deirdre. They’d carved open their histories and offered up their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-r-hughes/new-names-cost-they-d-sacrificed-things-in-their-transfigurations/) S.R. Hughes > [The passage of the mythological hero may be over ground, incidentally; fundamentally it is inward--into depths where obscure resistances are overcome, and long lost,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-passage-of-the-mythological-hero-may-be-over-ground-incidentally/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/the-lord-is-more-constant-and-far-more-extravagant-than-it-seems-to/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [The states in which we infuse a transfiguration and a fullness into things and poetize about them until they reflect back our fullness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-states-in-which-we-infuse-a-transfiguration-and-a-fullness-into/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Repentance can become a very, very deep phenomenon in you if you understand the responsibility. Then even a small thing, if it becomes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/repentance-can-become-a-very-very-deep-phenomenon-in-you-if-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The transfiguration of matter occurs through wonder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-hillman/the-transfiguration-of-matter-occurs-through-wonder/) [James Hillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-hillman/) > [O months of blossoming, months of transfigurations, May without cloud and June stabbed to the heart, I shall not ever forget the lilacs or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-aragon/o-months-of-blossoming-months-of-transfigurations-may-without-cloud/) [Louis Aragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-aragon/) > [The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-difference-between-shallow-happiness-and-a-deep-sustaining-joy-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The Light of the Lord's Transfiguration does not come into being or cease to be, nor is it circumscribed or perceptible to the senses,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-palamas/the-light-of-the-lord-s-transfiguration-does-not-come-into-being-or/) [Gregory Palamas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-palamas/) > [When we become incorruptible and immortal, and attain to the blessed state of conformity with Christ, we will be ever with the Lord (as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-palamas/when-we-become-incorruptible-and-immortal-and-attain-to-the-blessed/) [Gregory Palamas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-palamas/) [Browse all 64 Transfiguration quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transfiguration/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marilynne Robinson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-can-shine-like-transfiguration/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Transfiguration" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-can-shine-like-transfiguration/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b3/marilynne-robinson-602_transfiguration_wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-ca_708299.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it…” — Marilynne Robinson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marilynne Robinson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Wherever you turn your eyes the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-can-shine-like-transfiguration/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/wherever-you-turn-your-eyes-the-world-can-shine-like-transfiguration/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```