“Autumn teaches us that fruition is also death; that ripeness is a form of decay. The willows, having stood for so long near water, begin to rust. Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons.”

— Gretel Ehrlich

Source: The Solace of Open Spaces

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Gretel Ehrlich 3

American writer 1946

Donald Davidson (1893–1968) American poet, essayist, critic and author

Aunt Maria and the Gourds

“The All of Things is an infinite conjugation of the verb To do.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Pt. II, Bk. III, ch. 1.
1830s, The French Revolution. A History (1837)

“Glorious are the woods in their latest gold and crimson,
Yet our full-leaved willows are in the freshest green.
Such a kindly autumn, so mercifully dealing
With the growths of summer, I never yet have seen.”

William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) American romantic poet and journalist

The Third of November, 1861. Thirty Poems. Appleton, New York. pp. 112-115. (1864)

“Near the lake where drooped the willow,
Long time ago!”

George Pope Morris (1802–1864) American publisher

Near the Lake, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“Sydney! Stop. Think of something else. Conjugate Latin verbs. Recite the periodic table.”

Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell

Source: The Indigo Spell

“The winter will be short, the summer long,
The autumn amber-hued, sunny and hot,
Tasting of cider and of scuppernong;
All seasons sweet, but autumn best of all.
The squirrels in their silver fur will fall
Like falling leaves, like fruit, before your shot.”

Elinor Wylie book Nets to Catch the Wind

1
Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), Wild Peaches

“The winter oak… is very useful in buildings but when in a moist place it takes in water to its centre… and so it rots. The Turkey oak and the beech both… take in moisture to their centre and soon decay. White and black poplar, as well as willow, linden, and the agnus castus… are of great service from their stiffness. …they are a convenient material to use in carving.”

Vitruvius book De architectura

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter IX, Sec. 9

“Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

“Sad that our finest aspiration
Our freshest dreams and meditations,
In swift succession should decay,
Like Autumn leaves that rot away.”

Aleksandr Pushkin book Eugene Onegin

Что наши лучшие желанья,
Что наши свежие мечтанья
Истлели быстрой чередой,
Как листья осенью гнилой.
Source: Eugene Onegin (1823), Ch. 8, st. 11.

“Autumn was her happiest season.”

Harper Lee book Go Set a Watchman

Source: Go Set a Watchman

“Autumn teaches us that fruition is also death; that ripeness is a form of decay. The willows, having stood for so long near water, begin to rust. Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons.”

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