Part of the research I’ve done for my YA series has been to gather quotes about moths. I was assembling and creating a mythology for the kingdom of Truewyth, that centers around moths and how they contain generations of stories and secrets about the kingdom’s people, written into their wings. I often enjoy reading novels that introduce a quote from another author at the beginning of the book or a chapter to set the tone, and while I don’t end up employing that technique in my book, I thought it would be helpful to see what other writers have written about moths.
I think the root of my fascination about them comes from Gene Stratton Porter’s books (one of her most well known, being A Girl of the Limberlost, though I’ve read every one I can get my hands on. My absolute fave is The Keeper of the Bees.) She lived in Indiana, like I do, and I’ve had the privilege of visiting her homes and seeing a bit of what’s left of the Limberlost and the Loblolly Marsh, which looks a bit different today than it did in the magical descriptions on her books. But nonetheless, she turned me on to the beauty of moths, so thank you Gene!
Here are a few lines I’m saving up for inspiration:
“In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Between our birth and death we may touch understanding, as a moth brushes a window with its wing.” – Christopher Fry
“Like a moth to a flame we become helpless to the beautiful ghosts that true love sheds.”
– Ryan O’Neal
“Life is a frail moth flying, caught in a web of years that pass.” – Sara Teasdale