Giants in the Earth

“But more to be dreaded than this tribulation was the strange spell of sadness which the unbroken solitude cast upon the minds of stone.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“Here was the endless prairie, so rich in its blessings of fertility, but also full of great loneliness--a form of freedom which curiously affected the minds of strangers, especially those to whom the Lord had given a sad heart.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“When the quarrel had finally worn itself out they had found themselves at opposite ends of the earth, though lying side by side in the same bed.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“A feeling of unfathomable loneliness settled upon her.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“Weak and insignificant, he yet bore within him the talisman to set her direst magic at naught. For he beguiled the heavy-hearted folk into laughing, and what can avail against folk who laugh-- who dare to laugh in the face of a winter like this one? . . . That winter it was who saved people from insanity and the grave.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“An endless plain. From Kansas--Illinois, it stretched, far into the Canadian North, God alone knows how far; from the Mississippi River to the wester Rockies, miles without number... Endless...beginningless.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“The explanation was plain; this desolation out here called forth all that was evil in human nature.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“Tish-ah!" said the grass. "Tish-ah, tish-ah!" Never had it said anything else--never would it say anything else. It bent resiliently under the trampling feet; it did not break, but it complained aloud every time--for nothing like this had ever happened to it before.””

— O. E. Rølvaag

“Many and incredible are the tales the grandfathers tell from those days when the wilderness was yet untamed, and when they, unwittingly, founded the Kingdom.””

— O. E. Rølvaag