Quicksand – Quotes

What is real for

What is real for me are the illusions I create with my paintings. Everything else is quicksand. Eugene Delacroix

The canyon country does not always inspire love. To many it appears barren, hostile, repellent – a fearsome mostly waterless land of rock and heat, sand dunes and quicksand, cactus, thornbrush, scorpion, rattlesnake, and agaraphobic distances. To those who see our land in that manner, the best reply is, yes, you are right, it is … Read more

When I write \\\”paradise\\\”

When I write \”paradise\” I mean not only apple trees and golden women but also scorpions and tarantulas and flies, rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, sandstorms, volcanoes and earthquakes, bacteria and bear, cactus, yucca, bladderweed, ocotillo and mesquite, flash floods and quicksand, and yes – disease and death and the rotting of flesh. Edward Abbey

Beauty is a dangerous

Beauty is a dangerous word. Beauty becomes slightly indulgent for me. It’s a snatched kind of moment for me because I’m entitled to a nice day in my life but beauty creeps close to narcissism, which I really dislike, particularly in human beings who were born with good looks, who cash in on it. It’s … Read more

I resolve to venture

I resolve to venture into the city on my own. I look at maps in the library—subway maps, bus maps, and regular maps—and try to memorize them. I’m afraid of getting lost; no, I’m afraid of sinking into the city as in a quicksand, afraid of getting sucked into something I can never escape. Deborah … Read more

I think I’m still

I think I’m still just as conflicted about the war as I always was. On the one hand, I was a soldier carrying out his duty, following his allegiance to his country and to the mission at hand. But yet, there was always this unease plaguing me. What are we doing here? Are we really … Read more

I think about some

I think about some of the novels I love – The Stranger, Disgrace, Quicksand and Passing, Giovanni’s Room, The Talented Mr. Ripley. I think I’m more intrigued by characters who don’t do the right thing and where we are allowed to identify with their shame/dishonesty/envy… whatever. Danzy Senna

Shyness is a curious

Shyness is a curious thing, because, like quicksand, it can strike people at any time, and also, like quicksand, it usually makes its victims look down. Daniel Handler

Too much success gets

Too much success gets you resting on your laurels and creates a kind of quicksand that you can’t get out of. Colin Wilson

Generally the impulse to

Generally the impulse to find justice through punitive measures can be a kind of quicksand. What James Whitman, the scholar I cite in the chapter of my book, talks about as an urge to level down, I think you see that everywhere. We’re going to be a punitive society, so we might as well level … Read more