I almost dog-eared every page of this book — every sentence this woman writes is wonderful and should be quoted over and over again every single day. Or at least once a week. You will be seeing more of her on here.
On sea change:
“Everyone knows, from books or experience, that living out of sight of any shore does rich and powerfully strange things to humans. [...] On land, the tuggings of the moons can somewhat safely be ignored by men, and left to the more pliant senses of women and seeds and an occasional warlock. But at sea even males are victims of the rise and fall, the twice-daily surge of the waters they float on, and willy-nilly the planetary rhythm stirs them and all the other voyagers.
“Sometimes, if people make only one short voyage, or are unusually dull, they are not conscious of sea change, except as a feeling of puzzlement that comes over them when they are remembering something that happened, or almost happened, on board ship.
“Often, though, and with as little volition, people will become ship addicts, and perjure themselves with trumpery excuses for their trips. I have watched many of them drifting in their drugged ways about the corridors of peacetime liners, their faces full of a contentment never to be found elsewhere.
“The sea change in me was slow, and it continues still.”
Paintings by Berthe Morisot
