Abbey

“Books are like windows, not only to look at but to look through. Some, like some windows, open to nothing but a dead wall, in which case they are prettily draped and decorated; and if you must say something about them, you will have to talk about the decorations. Some look on a historical period... Now, anyone who has lived in hill-country knows that some windows have both a near and far view. A short-sighted person or one whose interests are all in the dooryard can get a good view of all that, but, to the longsighted, vistas open to the far hills.”
― May Lamberton Becker

“Utopia retains throughout its long history the basic form of the narrative of a journey... First comes the picture of a happy people in a beautiful and well-ordered setting; then comes the lecture on how it all came about, how it works, and, by implication, how it might be made to work in the traveller's own society.”
― Krishan Kumar, Utopianism

“Utopia's value lies not in its relation to present practice but in its relation to a possible future. Its "practical" use is to overstep the immediate reality to depict a condition whose clear desirability draws us on, like a magnet.”
― Krishan Kumar, Utopianism

“The sea smells like old wood and wet leaves. Like cold mud and warm stone. Like every creature who has ever lived in it, a churning graveyard and nursery. Like winds from the inland carrying the hot circulation of life and winds from the ocean carrying the distant froth of waves against ships and islands. Like gray, only more so. Like blue, only less so.”
― Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor