Plains Song Quotes

“Longing is a particular kind of desire that has lost its way, desire without a clear object. Longing creates search parties and then sends them out into the world without a specific thing to search for. Longing, I would say, is the governing emotion of this book, longing mixed with wonder.”
― Wright Morris, Plains Song: For Female Voices

“Sabi is found not in the beauty of youth but instead in the beauty of wear and tear, the beauty of something that has stood the test of time and is still standing in spite of everything. Sabi is the acquired soul of a created thing as it grows old.”
― Wright Morris, Plains Song: For Female Voices

“The life congenial to Sharon, however melancholy, is the world of phantoms, more alluring than dreams, that impinges on her dreaming. The pervasive tone is a sweet sadness, a pleasurable longing, suffused with drug-like strains of music. Longing for what? Signs are visible. A child is sometimes seen wearing a blindfold, groping about as if for companions. A voice says, “It is not your longing, but part of the world’s longing.” A profound recognition sweetens her sorrow. She moves, she floats, she glides, she gasps to see the earth receding behind her, space unfolding before her. Bells are ringing.”
― Wright Morris, Plains Song: For Female Voices

“The life congenial to Sharon, however melancholy, is the world of phantoms, more alluring than dreams, that impinges on her dreaming. The pervasive tone is a sweet sadness, a pleasurable longing, suffused with drug-like strains of music. Longing for what? Signs are visible. A child is sometimes seen wearing a blindfold, groping about as if for companions. A voice says, “It is not your longing, but part of the world’s longing.” A profound recognition sweetens her sorrow. She moves, she floats, she glides, she gasps to see the earth receding behind her, space unfolding before her.”
― Wright Morris, Plains Song: For Female Voices