Norman Maclean Quotes
Quotes
Authors & Writers“Poets talk about 'spots of time', but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone.”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“I asked, 'Do you think you should help him?' 'Yes', he said, 'I thought we were going to'. 'How?' I asked. 'By taking him fishing with us.' 'I've just told you,' I said, 'he doesn't like to fish.' 'Maybe so', my brother replied. 'But maybe what he likes is somebody trying to help him'.”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“Something within fishermen tries to make fishing into a world perfect and apart - I don't know what it is or where, because sometimes it is in my arms and sometimes in my throat and sometimes nowhere in particular except somewhere deep.”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ That's how you know when you have thought too much - when you become a dialogue between 'You'll probably lose' and 'You're sure to lose'. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ We can love completely what we cannot completely understand. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ Slowly we became silent, and silence itself if an enemy to friendship. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ One great thing about fly fishing is that after a while nothing exists of the world but thoughts about fly fishing. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ So it is that we can seldom help anybody. Either we don't know what part to give or maybe we don't like to give any part of ourselves. Then, more often than not, the part that is needed is not wanted. And even more often, we do not have the part that is needed. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ The fisherman even has a phrase to describe what he does when he studies the patterns of a river. He says he is 'reading the water', and perhaps to tell his stories he has to do much the same thing. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are the almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ You can love completely without complete understanding. ”
Norman MacleanQuotes
Authors & Writers“ When [bait fishermen] come back home they don't even kiss their mothers on the front porch before they're in the back garden with a red Hills Bros. coffee can digging for angleworms. ”
Norman MacleanGet inspiration for parents!
Subscribe for parenting tips, family money advice, baby names and more
We’ll send you tons of inspiration to help you find a hidden gem in your local area or plan a big day out.
Check your inbox for your latest news from us. You have subscribed to:
Remember that you can always manage your preferences or unsubscribe through the link at the foot of each newsletter.
