Quotes from book
The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day
Thornton Wilder

The Eighth Day is a 1967 novel by Thornton Wilder. Set in a mining town in southern Illinois, the plot revolves around John Barrington Ashley, who is accused of murdering his neighbor Breckenridge Lansing. The novel was written over the course of twenty months while Wilder was living alone in Douglas, Arizona. The Eighth Day was the 1968 winner of the National Book Award.

Thornton Wilder photo

“We do not choose the day of our birth nor may we choose the day of our death, yet choice is the sovereign faculty of the mind.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“The planting of trees is the least self-centered of all that we do. It is a purer act of faith than the procreation of children.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“Man is not an end but a beginning. We are at the beginning of the second week. We are children of the eighth day.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“A sense of humor judges one's actions and the actions of others from a wider reference and a longer view and finds them incongruous. It dampens enthusiasm; it mocks hope; it pardons shortcomings; it consoles failure. It recommends moderation.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“Those who are silent, self-effacing and attentive become the recipients of confidences.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“It is only in appearance that time is a river. It is rather a vast landscape and it is the eye of the beholder that moves.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)

Thornton Wilder photo

“There is no happiness save in understanding the whole.”

Thornton Wilder book The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day (1967)
Context: When God loves a creature he wants the creature to know the highest happiness and the deepest misery … He wants him to know all that being alive can bring. That is his best gift…. There is no happiness save in understanding the whole.

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