Vivian Swift Quotes

#1. Romance is showing my new husband the places and things that mean the most to me.


I can't help it if some of those places and things are in France.

Vivian Swift

#2. NEXT LIFE. My embroidery studio on the main street of Bayeux will be just one part of my Institute of Slow Information. I will also teach letter writing, listening, miniature portrait painting, and the art of doing one thing at a time.

Vivian Swift

#3. Calamities are unavoidable, in love and travel.

All it takes to make it to the end of the road are some good Survival Tips.

Vivian Swift

#4. Some days 'staying put' might feel the same as Going Nowhere.
Make a cup of tea, and wait for that feeling to pass.

Vivian Swift

#5. In Marrakech, Arabian open-heartedness is served up with a generous dose of pan-African mysticism, a dollop of French savoir-vivre, and a garnish of Moorish grace. The vibe is irresistible to meaning-of-life seekers and international hipsters looking for a scene.

Vivian Swift

#6. X and Y
the Co-ordinates of
Zen Navigation

X = the limited time you have on the road, in a life
Y = the eternity you have in every hour, every day
Z = Each step you take is a once-in-a-lifetime infinite thing

Vivian Swift

#7. I am a connoisseur of rain (all of us introverts are).

Vivian Swift

#8. I had it all planned.

That was my first mistake.

Vivian Swift

#9. POOR MARCH
It is the HOMELIEST month of the year. Most of it is MUD, Every Imaginable Form of MUD, and what isn't MUD in March is ugly late-season SNOW falling onto the ground in filthy muddy heaps that look like PILES of DIRTY LAUNDRY.

Vivian Swift

#10. Travel Tip: Relax. It's not a crime to want to sit in a cafe and not take a walking our of all those historic monuments in your peripheral vision.

Vivian Swift

#11. Celebrate my heart, at ease or on fire, in my usual featherbrained way.

Horace, Roman Poet
Ode I-6, 23 BCE

Vivian Swift

#12. That's one of the most reliable things about a long road trip. There's always a cat, just when you need one.

Vivian Swift

#13. In America, being able to get things done, especially if it's by bending rules, making exceptions, or calling in a favor, is the way to show power. In France, being able to say non (especially to a bureaucratically legitimate request) is the way to show power. And piss me off.

Vivian Swift

#14. The Blues
The Blahs
The Weary Dismals
Lost in Gloom
Woesome Me's
The Eternal 3 AM of the Soul.

Vivian Swift

#15. There ought to be a word for the Winter form of a tree.

Vivian Swift

#16. If you happen to be a person who does not enjoy your own company, a visit to Edinburgh in January will teach you how it's done.

Vivian Swift

#17. Anticipation. In love and travel, getting there is half the fun. The lustful impatience, the passionate daydreams, the nerve-wracking waiting... lovers and travelers are all alike when they find themselves on the brink of a new adventure.

Vivian Swift

#18. If gardens are created to tell stories, which I believe they are, then garden gates are the crucial opening lines that can make or break a tale.

Vivian Swift

#19. As a rule, romance is not a place you can find on a map. But sometimes it is.

Vivian Swift

#20. To see a tree in Winter is to see it for what it really is. A Winter tree is an object so intricate and so perplexing that if it hadn't already; been decided that Winter trees were plain and boring, we would be spending hours pondering them, staring at them in astonishment.

Vivian Swift