Thornton Wilder, The Bridge Of San Luis Rey Quotes

Throughout the hours of the night, though there had been few to hear it, the whole sky had been loud with the singing of these constellations.

[Camila] was quite incapable of establishing any harmony between the claims of her art, of her appetites, or her dreams, and of her crowded daily routine. Each of these was a world in itself.

But such occasions of excellence became less and less frequent. As her technique became sounder, [her] sincerity became less necessary.

The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs.

Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan.

She did not suspect that the Abbess was even there hovering about the house, herself estimating the stresses and watching for the moment when a burden harms and not strengthens.

But while they continued staring into one another’s face waiting for the miracle of science the pain grew worse.

Perhaps she would learn in time to permit both her daughter and her gods to govern their own affairs.

The art of biography is more difficult than is generally supposed.