The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Quotes

“God does not know whether a skin is black or white, He sees only souls.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“The thought of him was a smoky cloud from hell that moved and crept in her head.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From Flowering Judas]

She is, her comrades tell her, full of romantic error, for what she defines as cynicism in them is merely 'a developed sense of reality'.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From Old Mortality]

The woman in the picture. . . was only a ghost in a frame, and a sad, pretty story from old times.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From The Old Order]

The Grandmother always treated her animal friends as if they were human beings temporarily metamorphosed . . .”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From Old Mortality]

...religion put claws on Aunt Sally and gave her a post to whet them on.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From Pale Horse, Pale Rider]

The road to death is a long march beset with all evils. . .”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“[From The Jilting of Granny Weatherall]

You waste life when you waste good food.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“She wished to sit down quietly and wait for her death, but not until she had cut the throats of her man and that girl who were laughing and kissing under the cornstalks.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

“Yes, she had changed her mind after sixty years and she would like to see George. I want you to find George. Find him and be sure to tell him I forgot him. I want him to know I had my husband just the same and my children and my house like any other woman. A good house too and a good husband that I loved and fine children out of him. Better than I had hoped for even. Tell him I was given back everything he took away and more. Oh, no, oh, God, no, there was something else besides the house and the man and the children. Oh, surely they were not all? What was it? Something not given back... Her breath crowded down under her ribs and grew into a monstrous frightening shape with cutting edges; it bored up into her head, and the agony was unbelievable: Yes, John, get the Doctor now, no more talk, the time has come.”
― Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter