# Quote — Willa Cather, The Song Of The Lark

> What was any art but an effort to make a sheath, a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself — life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose?

- Author: [Willa Cather](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather.md)
- Book: [The Song Of The Lark](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#The_Song_of_the_Lark_(1915)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark/what-was-any

## More from this book

> I tell you there is no such thing as creative hate!

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark/i-tell-you.md)

> All the intelligence and talent in the world can't make a singer. The voice is a wild thing. It can't be bred in captivity. It is a sport, like the silver fox. It happens.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark/all-the-intelligence.md)

> I keep my mind on it. That's the whole trick, in so far as stage experience goes; keeping right there every second. If I think of anything else for a flash, I'm gone, done for. But at the same time, one can take things in — with another part of your brain, maybe. It's different from what you get in study, more practical and conclusive. There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. You learn the delivery of a part only before an audience.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark/i-keep-my-mind.md)