Winkler's breath plumed up onto his glasses. The entire valley was enveloped in a huge, illuminated stillness. Above him the clouds had pulled away and the sky burned with stars. The meadow smoldered with light, and the spruce had become illuminated kingdoms, snow sifting from branch to branch. He thought: This has been here every winter all my life. Anthony Doerr
About This Quote

Jean Van Wyck, a Dutch painter born in 1647, wrote in his diary that he could see “the entire valley was enveloped in a huge, illuminated stillness. Above him the clouds had pulled away and the sky burned with stars. The meadow smoldered with light, and the spruce had become illuminated kingdoms, snow sifting from branch to branch.” Van Wyck’s description of the world at night is not unlike what you would see in the woods around your home. The difference is that Van Wyck was out in the cold unpolluted air painting this scene while you are stuck inside watching TV.

Source: About Grace

Some Similar Quotes
  1. If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human. - Maggie Stiefvater
  2. Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year. - Chad Sugg
  3. For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>Not like hermits who... - Hermann Hesse
  4. When Great Trees FallWhen great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker downin tall grasses, and even elephantslumber after safety. When great trees fallin forests, small things recoil into silence, their senseseroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomeslight,... - Maya Angelou
  5. Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. - John Lubbock
More Quotes By Anthony Doerr
  1. When I lost my sight, Werner, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?
  2. I am only alive because I have not yet died.
  3. One night he sits up. In cots around him are a few dozen sick or wounded. A warm September wind pours across the countryside and sets the walls of the tent rippling. Werner’s head swivels lightly on his neck. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>The wind is strong...
  4. Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.
  5. Here's what I mean by the miracle of language. When you're falling into a good book, exactly as you might fall into a dream, a little conduit opens, a passageway between a reader's heart and a writer's, a connection that transcends the barriers of continents...
Related Topics