quote · Legacy record
To paint a leaf, you have to sacrifice the whole landscape. It might seem like you're limiting yourself at first, but after a while you realize that having a quarter-of-an-inch of something you have a better chance of holding on to a certain feeling of the universe than if you pretended to be doing the whole sky. My mother did not choose a leaf or a head. She chose my father, and to hold on to a certain feeling, she sacrificed the world.
To paint a leaf, you have to sacrifice the whole landscape. It might seem like you're limiting yourself at first, but after a while you realize that having a quarter-of-an-inch of something you have a better chance of holding on to a certain feeling of the universe than if you pretended to be doing the whole sky. My mother did not choose a leaf or a head. She chose my father, and to hold on to a certain feeling, she sacrificed the world.
Approximate author period: c. 1974 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Nicole Krauss
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1974 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1974; activity date not established; Wikidata Q466431, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q466431 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 288610; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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