“Fiction shows us the past as well as the present moment in mortal light; it is an art served by the indelibility of our memory, and one empowered by a sharp and prophetic awareness of what is ephemeral. It is by the ephemeral that our feeling is so strongly aroused for what endures, or strives to endure.”

Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty - “Fiction shows us the past as well as the...” 1

Similar quotes

“Ephemeral, highly ephemeral is the world of formations; ephemeral, highly ephemeral are our clothes and hairstyles, and our hair and our bodies themselves.”

Hermann Hesse
Read more

“By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul.”

Theodore Bikel
Read more

“That the past is ahead, in front of us, is a conception of time that helps us retain our memories and to be aware of its presents. What is behind us [the future] cannot be seen and is liable to be forgotten readily. What is ahead of us [the past] cannot be forgotten so readily or ignored, for it is in front of our minds' eyes, always reminding us of its presence. The past is alive in us, so in more than a metaphorical sense the dead are alive - we are our history.”

Epeli Hau'ofa
Read more

“And how are the other weak ones to blame, because they could not endure what the strong have endured?”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Read more

“Past and future exist only in our memory. The present moment though, is outside of time, it's Eternity. It isn;t what you did in the past that will affect the present. It's what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future.”

Paulo Coelho
Read more