Snowfed Waters Quotes

“The mountains were so wild and so stark and so very beautiful that I wanted to cry. I breathed in another wonderful moment to keep safe in my heart.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“I think of the irony that in our language [Nepali] the word for love can also mean deceit.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“... how could Britain operate in India for 300 years and take so little back from it in terms of understanding?”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“no-one would want to go through a traumatic experience but when you’ve survived something life-shattering and risen above it, you achieve a kind of serenity.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“I was wrenched awake at the tail-end of a stifled scream. I fought my way up from a deep dark dream. The scream had been mine.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“We found a smooth inviting boulder under a vast banyan tree, and sat in companionable silence. There unexpectedly, on that rock, I saw the secret of contentment. True happiness is only ever possible if you have been unhappy. And there, at that moment, I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so peaceful. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to take in any more happiness.
Moti turned to me and smiled as if she knew. I realised then that this moment and this wonderful feeling would sustain me for a long, long time.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“Good writers are like magpies, attracted to shiny things and storing away treasures -
pieces of dialogue and experience - which pop up from memory unexpectedly.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“Blood-coloured bottlebrush trees and scarlet hibiscus looked too bright for this devastated world.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“I reckon that blaming people fixes nothing. You're the only person who is going to sort you out. No-one else really can - or really cares, enough. That's what Nepalis know - better than anyone. That's our Western disease. Don't take responsibility. Take on a lawyer!”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“[the doctor] clicked by mistake on the notes of a patient she'd got to know well - too well. The unfortunate Mrs. Swayne had become unhealthily doctor-dependent. But had she grasped the nettle? Had she actually finally and against all predictions left the country?”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“Buddhist mantras are deliberately deep yet superficially meaningless - to take your mind off things”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“getting angry and harbouring bitterness doesn’t help anybody, least of all the angry bitter person.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

“I wished I could paint this ineffable beauty but I had never been artistic. I hadn’t even packed a camera, and my phone was out of charge. It didn’t matter. I just breathed in the feeling, savouring it. Suddenly I knew that I’d enjoy many more moving moments and visions of beauty, and that they’d sustain me for the rest of my life.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters