We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it - for a little while.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Humans are temporary visitors to the land, and true ownership comes from deep understanding rather than possession.
- In plain terms
- People come and go, but the land stays; only those who truly understand it can claim it temporarily.
- What can you take from it?
- True stewardship comes from understanding, not ownership.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does it mean to own land?
- How do we relate to the earth?
Another view
It romanticizes ownership while ignoring economic realities of property.
More from Willa Cather
The years seemed to stretch before her like the land: spring, summer, autumn, winter, spring; always the same patient fields, the patient little trees, the pat…
Permalink to quote #20 I tell you there is no such thing as creative hate!
Permalink to quote #22 There was about Alexandra something of the impervious calm of the fatalist, always disconcerting to very young people, who cannot feel that the heart lives at …
Permalink to quote #19
Related quotes
Twisting through the thorn-thick underbrush, scratched and exhausted, one turns suddenly to find an unexpected waterfall, not half a mile from the nearest road…
Dana GioiaDana Gioia quote #4 An afternoon drive from Los Angeles will take you up into the high mountains, where eagles circle above the forests and the cold blue lakes, or out over the Mo…
Christopher IsherwoodChristopher Isherwood quote #7 About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberan…
James MichenerJames Michener quote #18