Quotes About Wonder

Incidents of Travel

Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston

she spent many hours whirling around trying to catch the monarch butterflies that floated among the milkweed and chokecherries. When she caught them, she cupped them in her hands and smelled them, as if they were flowers. When she released them, some would drop to earth traumatized or crushed, while others flew off in a spiraling panic while she watched, her hands and nose dusted with the orange powder from their wings.

Dr. Kelly, are you familiar with the term, 'cabinet of curiosities'?" Nora wondered at the man's ability to pile on non sequiturs. "Wasn't it a kind of natural history collection?" "Precisely. It was the precursor to the natural history museum. Many

And what was he like? Did he have three heads?" "If he did, two must have been successfully removed in infancy.

You are an incredible mystery that you will never figure out. To be this mystery consciously is the greatest joy.

don't know what it is. They'll forget that that thing flying through the sky is beyond all words, that it's an expression of the immensity of life. It's actually an extraordinary and wondrous thing that flies through the sky. But as soon as we name it, we think we know what it is. We see "bird," and we almost discount it.

All of a sudden there I was, standing there, holding my plate my of food at this wedding, and there was the realization that even though I don't see things the way most people around me see them, this is it. This is life, and it is absolutely wonderful, amazingly beautiful. The only thing left for me to do was to walk back into the world.

Well, of course, it was not any of my business but you get very queer glimpses of life sometimes, and you can't help speculating about them.

Open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what the fairies will send you—

It was a fantastic moment. In it, Anthony Marston seemed to be something more than mortal. Afterwards more than one of those present remembered that moment.

The family would come under suspicion," he said, "and it might remain under suspicion for a long time—perhaps for ever. If one of the family was guilty it is possible that they themselves would not know which one. They would look at each other and—wonder … Yes, that's what would be the worst of all. They themselves would not know which…

he said "I simply can't believe it, that's all." "Oh, nonsense," said Jimmy. "You must get into the habit of believing six impossible things before breakfast...

Surely, I thought, in a world where man has been able to put satellites in the sky and where men talk big about visiting the stars, there must be something that rouses you, that makes your heart beat, that's worthwhile searching all over the world to find!

Is there a common denominator? I wonder. You know, if there is, I should be inclined to say it is vanity.

In all the world there is nothing so curious and so interesting and so beautiful as truth….

Seeing Jane's beauty and appreciating the charm that her exquisitely husky voice lent to the most trite utterances, I could hardly wonder at his capitulation. But one can get used to perfect beauty and an intoxicating voice! It crossed my mind that perhaps even now a ray of common sense was dissipating the mists of intoxicated love

just to be alive is a grand thing.

one of the best things that can happen to you is, i think, a happy childhood.

The next morning we reach the Cilician Gates, and look out over one of the most beautiful views I know. It is like standing on the rim of the world and looking down on the promised land, and one feels much as Moses must have felt. For here, too, there is no entering in. ... The soft, hazy dark blue loveliness is a land one will never reach; the actual towns and villages when one gets there will be only the ordinary everyday world—not this enchanted beauty that beckons you down.