Five things we learned from I Bought a Mountain

1 THE MOUNTAINS BY NIGHT ARE SOOTHING ‘Each time I climb the Glyders to wait for light for the shearing gathering I wonder why I do not come often to the high places in the darkness. For the velvet hand of the spaceless night soothes my jangled little human soul.’

2 TAXIING PIGS IN CARS CAN BE PERILOUS ‘A pig had evidently leaned against the door-handle. The door had opened, and the pig had shot out stern first, but had retained with his forelegs a grip on the running-board... to maintain this position his rear legs were moving so fast along the road that Esmé swears they were blurred.’

3 THE PAST IS NEVER FAR AWAY ‘The mystery of the past is not unlocked, but we both peer through the keyhole and see dimly the small, dark shapes who huddle round us for company. Esmé and I are doing the same work as they once did, and in their groping, introspective way they give us tongue-tied sympathy.’

4 YOU CAN’T PRETEND TO BE A FARMER ‘A scientist, a doctor, an artist, a soldier, a lawyer, can all be impersonated for a short while with some hope of success. A farmer never. More is needed than a glossary of jargon and a studied physical expression. No one can impersonate an earthquake or an acorn, and a farmer is just as much a natural manifestation.’

5 THERE’S RICHNESS IN THE SIMPLE LIFE ‘The more we mortals build the more there is for the fates to destroy... I do not believe we pile up possessions for the pleasure which they give us, nor even for the power, but for the hallmark which they set upon our success… The carpenter who makes a trim chest is as great a man as the millionaire who doubles and redoubles his fortune.’