Quotes from Elliott Merrick

The north wind roaring down in October is cruel and cold and reminds you again — as the sea has a way of doing — that nature does not care for man. And somehow that makes the red and yellow leaves and the blue, deceptive noons all the sweeter and more precious because living is so dangerous and so short and can be so bitter.

Sometimes in winter there comes a spell of snowstorms and sunshine and terrific contentment. On snowy afternoons there is a special blessedness in saying, oh it is too snowy to chop wood this afternoon. And the gray snow sifts down, and one takes off one's boots and sits by the fire and is glad of the way wool socks smell; and a pie is baking in the oven, and the gray snow is sifting down.

What were leaky roofs and cold hands and gray days and rock as compared with such riches of freedom and aloneness.

In winter we often go down to the cellar and contemplate the art gallery. When a blizzard is howling outside is the best time.

To work hard and then loaf; to know hardship and then luxury, to learn about society and then color it with a dash of the wilds-is there anything quite so fine?