There was nothing so real on the prairie as winter, nothing so memorable.

it was a sly trick of God's to give a man work to do - it kept him from asking questions that God couldn't answer.

Time, designing slowly, swiftly; Time, destroying slowly, swiftly; Time holding, possessing the earth in its tender indifference.

You have stirred the soil with your plow, my friend. It will never be the same again.

once a man had thrust his hands into the soil and knew the grit of it between his teeth, he felt something rise within him that was not of his day or generation, but had persisted through birth and death from a time beyond recall.

A false vision was better than none.

a man can break God's laws and be forgiven. That's what they teach us. But when he breaks Nature's laws, there's no forgiveness - and there's no escape. Sooner or later he pays the penalty, or his children pay it - or his children's children. It doesn't matter much. It must be paid.