She understands all at once, with a small shock, exactly what it is she always needed to tell Harland: being there in person is not the same as watching. You might see things better on television, but you'll never know if you were alive or dead while you watched.
Barbara Kingsolver
Related It is what it is, it is what you make it. JAMES DURBIN There were a couple of things in the intervention that made me know I needed help. One was a letter ... PAT SUMMERALL Always look up to the better. They tell you where to go but never look down upon inferior because yo... PRASHANT BALAN What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of ... RAYMOND CHANDLER Never tell a woman that she is beautiful, she might think you were a pretty little liar. ASHLEY RICHARDSON Once she exclaimed, "But I always thought that sorceresses were evil!" "What do you mean 'evil'... GERALD MORRIS There has always been something enigmatic about Cassie. This is one of the things I like in her, and... TANA FRENCH As ugly an admission as this is, I met my wife at a party, and if I had been to the same party and s... JAMES GRAY What transforms this world is — knowledge. Do you see what I mean? Nothing else can change anythin... YUKIO MISHIMA None of us were there. Only she knows what she dialed. And she can be real adamant. But then again, ... BONNIE POINDEXTER If You See Things As It Is, You Will Never Know What It Is SYED SHARUKH When I think of Tomodachi, I think of your mother. Your mother, she too lose her baby. She lose you.... MICHAEL MORPURGO Every small business will give you an entrepreneurial way of looking at things. I guarantee you that... HAMDI ULUKAYA Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person trigge... THICH NHAT HANH What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on the top... RAYMOND CHANDLER Unpredictability means what it means. I don't know how you define it. It is what it is. MICHAEL KEATON If you see things as it is, You will never know what it is - SRK SYED SHARUKH You could feel things or you could find a way to shut down. But once you were feeling things, you co... ANN BRASHARES There is always confusion among the access channels. But it does tell you that all the access channe... LOUISE THOMPSON Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN Never be possessive. If a female friend lets on that she is going out with another man, be kind and ... BRUCE FRIEDMAN Very often when you look at the moon, you see only a part of it, but you know there is a much larger... SOURCE UNKNOWN Being alive isn't about breathing or being organic. Being alive means that you can freely make choic... BRANDON CHRISTOPHER David's mother would often tell him stories were alive. They weren't alive in the way people were al... JOHN CONNOLLY Annabelle’s eyes stung as she stared at him, while need and inexhaustible tenderness gathered like... LISA KLEYPAS She's not my nurse but she comes up to Gran and Gramps just the same. "Don't you doubt for a second ... GAYLE FORMAN [But how similar does she believe the Peter Mullan character also called Michael Scot is to th... LOUISE YEOMAN It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can't see who you are. It is bett... E. LOCKHART Do what you feel like and exactly as you feel like and if he/she is the one, he/she will love you fo... DEBASHISH PHILIP STEPHEN She smiled at him. “How did you know just what I’d want to see?” “How could I not?” h... CASSANDRA CLARE She was bigger than life. Loved everybody. Never had a bad day. Never met a stranger. Would give you... LAINE TADLOCK No child understands how well she knows her parents' faces, how much they tell her without speaking;... CATHERINE LACEY It is both a physical reality as well as a philosophical reality that all things have to function to... DONALD LYNN FROST It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. A handsome woman talks nonsense,... LEO TOLSTOY Treat everyone you meet as if he or she were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the ca... OG MANDINO Do you enjoy being lied to? Does it endear you to a person? If not, exactly what makes you, or anyon... BOBBY W. MILLER Wanderer: You don't really feel that way about me you know. It's this body... she's pretty isn't she... STEPHENIE MEYER Youll never get mixed up if you simply tell the truth. Then you dont have to remember what you have ... SAM RAYBURN But she was seventeen now and not actually dumb. She knew that you could love somebody more than any... JONATHAN FRANZEN ( Perspective ) What is your take on it? It is exactly how we see it, but is not always the TRUTH. S... DR.'S RICK AND SUSANN CRAWFORD But it is always interesting when one doesn't see,' she added. 'If you don't see what a thing means,... AGATHA CHRISTIE The missing person case has never been closed, ... She has never been found, alive or dead. ANTHONY MURPHY A mother's hardest to forgive. Life is the fruit she longs to hand you Ripe on a plate. An... PHYLLIS MCGINLEY She pulled away. “I missed you, Percy.” Percy wanted to tell her the same thing, but it see... RICK RIORDAN I’ll come back,” she promised. “I’ll always come back to you.” “I know,” he said ... TIFFANY REISZ Beware of politicians who tell you they'll do all these wonderful things for you for only a smal... FABRIZIO MOREIRA Why are you being so nice to me?' I asked her. 'You know,' she said, 'when you say stuff like t... SARAH DESSEN Realistically, most people have poor filters for sorting truth from fiction, and there’s no object... SCOTT ADAMS You know,” she said dreamily, passing over his question, “you’re not nearly as handsome as Lor... LISA KLEYPAS You know how sometimes you remember a place you once loved, a movie you’ve enjoyed, only to be dis... CHRISTINA WESTOVER If there is but one pearl of wisdom I have to impart to you, after all my observations here thus far... NATASHA RENDELL Your destination might not end up being exactly what you envisioned to start with, but if you stick ... JOY MANGANO If you walked in with your grandmother's card and try to vote, if she's been dead two months, she wi... RAY BARRETT I love Shakira - she is such a beautiful person. She does so many good things for the world on top o... BECKY G I love Shakira - she is such a beautiful person. She does so many good things for the world on top o... BECKY G She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than y... JOHN GREEN Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see... ROBERT A. HEINLEIN What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is s... JOHN GREEN What else? She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is sma... JOHN GREEN You will think you take generous views of her; but you will never begin to know through what a stran... HENRY JAMES Long-time viewing of Internet violence tend to change a person's temperament, making the person pron... YOU QUANXI If positive and healthy materials are absent, negative materials are sure to be dominant in the cybe... YOU QUANXI In a robust global business environment, our business units operated well in the first quarter. More... HARRY YOU The Board of Directors and I are pleased to recognize Peter's outstanding contribution to the succes... HARRY YOU We are pleased to close the books on 2004 following the painstaking review of almost five years of f... HARRY YOU No, I don't know what you're talking about, ... It doesn't ring a bell. I've never known Molly Holly... LANNY POFFO You might not make it to the top, but if you are doing what you love, there is much more happiness t... TONY HAWK Maybe I don't need a relationship after all, she thought. Maybe thinking about these conversations w... CHUCK KLOSTERMAN This time I m not going to tell you a story. I'll just say that insanity is the inability to communi... PAULO COELHO We could tell by the way she said hello that we had lost. We felt horrible for a while; but, you kno... KATHY HOLMGREN I think I fell in love with her, a little bit. Isn't that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she... NEIL GAIMAN If we were talking about building runways, we could pretty much tell you exactly the process we need... ALBERT ANDERSON Did she make you laugh? Did she love you as much as you loved her? Did she protect you and warm you ... JUDITH KRANTZ What a surprise it is to discover that you have never needed to strive to survive and be happy after... GINA LAKE The Goddess spoke to all the dead. She was beloved for it. It seemed she passed on that gift to you.... LEANNA RENEE HIEBER No matter what you may think about her politics or her record, Hillary Clinton understands that this... MICHAEL BLOOMBERG Acceptance is not love. You love a person because he or she has lovable traits, but you accept every... ALBERT ELLIS It seemed there was no end at all to the lies a person could tell, once she got started. KIM EDWARDS But it's true, when you see some television, you carry it with you. It's like 90210. Tell me what yo... AARON SPELLING All indications are that things are looking better than what you see on television. ANTHONY POLINI ...You wanna change or hide or feel what it’s like to just be not you, if just for a night. But at... MARY SHANNON Tessa craned her head back to look at Will. “You know that feeling,” she said, “when you are r... CASSANDRA CLARE Wealth means nothing at all if you do not know, to the last penny, what your fortune is. You might a... PHILIPPA GREGORY Whenever you see a gaming table be sure to know fortune is not there. Rather she is always in the co... OLIVER GOLDSMITH It's the same thing,' I told her. 'What is?' 'Being afraid and being alive.' 'No,' sh... SARAH DESSEN There is an English saying that the king is always happy, or, 'happy as the king' - which is... BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ When did you get so peppy?” she shouted. “Ever since I assumed I was dead, then I suddenly ... BRANDON SANDERSON You can't have it all, all at once. Who - man or woman - has it all, all at once? Over my lifesp... RUTH BADER GINSBURG If you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all ... TERRY PRATCHETT Where were you while we were growing up? Did you not listen at all? We cannot understand God's plan ... BETH WISEMAN On some days she was able to see both sun and moon at the same time. Like feuding cousins, they hung... CARLA H. KRUEGER You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life. And... NEIL GAIMAN I love the movie previews... you know... Why is it whenever you're watching a movie preview you alwa... JIM GAFFIGAN "I love the movie previews... you know... Why is it whenever you're watching a movie preview you alw... JIM GAFFIGAN The fact that it's helping Hillary is not a negative, but I guarantee you that if she never intended... HARRY THOMASON Trust me, the being-dead part is much easier than the dying part. If you can watch much television, ... CHUCK PALAHNIUK My reputation is as a defender, ... But I tell people there were times that I averaged 19 points, 18... DENNIS JOHNSON But you, Achilles,/ There is not a man in the world more blest than you--/ There never has been, nev... HOMER If you were to come out and hang out with me, just having fun at a nightclub or a party, that's ... HARLAND WILLIAMS Rough as life can be, I know in my bones we are supposed to stick around and play our part. Even if ... BILL CLEGG
More Barbara Kingsolver
Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that g... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Small change, small wonders - these are the currency of my endurance and ultimately of my life. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Stop a minute, right where you are. Relax your shoulders, shake your head and spine like a dog shaki... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The important thing isn't the house. It's the ability to make it. You carry that in your bra... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The first sentence of a book is a promise. BARBARA KINGSOLVER For me, writing time has always been precious, something I wait for and am eager for and make the be... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Terms like that, 'Humane Society,' are devised with people like me in mind, who don't ca... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brav... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you mi... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I think the most interesting parts of human experience might be the sparks that come from that sort ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on be... BARBARA KINGSOLVER To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another that is surely the basic instinct - crying o... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Motherhood is so sentimentalised and romanticised in our culture. It's practically against the l... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of a... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact t... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin. BARBARA KINGSOLVER What a writer can do, what a fiction writer or a poet or an essay writer can do is re-engage people ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do i... BARBARA KINGSOLVER But kids don't stay with you if you do it right. It's the one job where, the better you are, the mor... BARBARA KINGSOLVER There is no point treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, 'There no... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is l... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It is surprising how much of memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. BARBARA KINGSOLVER The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do i... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Until that moment I'd thought I could have it both ways; to be one of them, and also my husband's wi... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew. BARBARA KINGSOLVER People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws. BARBARA KINGSOLVER The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervi... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The truth needs so little rehearsal. BARBARA KINGSOLVER As a biologist, I can't think of myself as anything but an animal among animals and plant. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I can count all the ways in which being a mother has enriched my understanding of the world, of char... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I think the most interesting parts of human experience might be the sparks that come from that sort ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Southern Appalachians have been ridiculed since the country began. In fiction, they're usually d... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Like kids who only ever get socks for Christmas, but still believe with all their hearts in Santa. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I used to think religion was just more of the same thing. Dump responsibility on the big guy. Now I ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Hallie and I... were all there was. The image in the mirror that proves you are still here. We had e... BARBARA KINGSOLVER That would be Axelroot all over, to turn up with an extra wife or two claiming that's how they do it... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The last generations's worst fears become the next one's B-grade entertainment. BARBARA KINGSOLVER My morning begins with trying not to get up before the sun rises. But when I do, it's because my... BARBARA KINGSOLVER A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory BARBARA KINGSOLVER Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization. BARBARA KINGSOLVER When something extraordinary shows up in your life in the middle of the night, you give it a name an... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction -... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who sta... BARBARA KINGSOLVER But newspapers have a duty to truth,' Van said. Lev clucked his tongue. 'They tell the truth on... BARBARA KINGSOLVER In a world as wrong as this one, all we can do is make things as right as we can. BARBARA KINGSOLVER You always need that spark of imagination. Sometimes I'm midway through a book before it happens... BARBARA KINGSOLVER There's a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white cros... BARBARA KINGSOLVER So you make this deal with the gods. You do these dances and they'll send rain and good crops and th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER In Kilanga, people knew nothing of things they might have had - a Frigidaire? a washer-dryer combina... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Shoes would interfere with her conversation, for she constantly addresses the ground under her feet.... BARBARA KINGSOLVER To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals r... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known. BARBARA KINGSOLVER No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and forei... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I live in southern Appalachia, so I'm surrounded by people who work very hard for barely a livin... BARBARA KINGSOLVER We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguis... BARBARA KINGSOLVER God doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Everything you're sure is right can be wrong in another place. BARBARA KINGSOLVER The important thing isn't the house. It's the ability to make it. You carry that in your brains and ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Close the door. Write with _no one_ looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other p... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Terms like that, "Humane Society," are devised with people like me in mind, who don't care to dwell ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike o... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf... BARBARA KINGSOLVER People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits wil... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentenc... BARBARA KINGSOLVER He spoke for an hour on the nonviolent road to independence. The crowd loved it so much they rioted ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Patriotism threatens free speech with death. In other words, the American flag stands for intimidati... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Libraries are the one American institution you shouldn't rip off. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Come to think of it, just about every tool was shaped like either a weenie or a pistol, depending on... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Sympathizing over the behavior of men is the baking soda of women's friendships, it seems,the thing ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Do you think its possible to live without wanting to put your name on your paintings? To belong to a... BARBARA KINGSOLVER If men only knew, modesty makes women fall in love faster than all the cock-a-doodling in the world. BARBARA KINGSOLVER It occurs to her that there is one thing about people you can never understand well enough: how enti... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Anybody can get worked up, if they have the intention. It's peacefulness that is hard to come by on ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The thing is, it's my own fault. I just can't put up with a person that won't go out of his way for ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER No matter what kind of night you're having, morning always wins. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Last time I talked to her she didn't sound like herself. She's depressed. It's awful what happens wh... BARBARA KINGSOLVER God, why does a mortal man have children? It is senseless to love anything this much. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Soon the maroon-throated howls would echo back from the other trees, father down the beach, until th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER When people are frightened about going hungry and paying their mortgages, a scarcity model begins to... BARBARA KINGSOLVER WOMEN ON THEIR OWN RUN in Alice’s family. This dawns on her with the unkindness of a heart attack ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Then again, do you have to be told every single thing about the world before you know it? BARBARA KINGSOLVER The backs of his hands remind him of paper burning in the fireplace, the moment the taut membrane go... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Cash misses his wife with a blank pain in his chest, and he misses his sisters and cousins, who have... BARBARA KINGSOLVER She told him television was a bad influence. Probably she was right. Like those white birds he's bee... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Let's go take a walk down to the blue hole. You need to look at some water. BARBARA KINGSOLVER She climbs down and pours half an inch of Jim Beam into a Bengals mug that came free with a tank of ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER They rock against each other, holding on, and the birds in the forest raise their voices to drown ou... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I've just fallen on some bad luck and landed jelly side down. BARBARA KINGSOLVER The clock gulps softly, eating second whole while she waits... BARBARA KINGSOLVER You talk about her as if she is the Notre Dame Cathedral!" "She is. And the Statue of Liberty and Ab... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I was so depressed I stopped using hair spray for three weeks. BARBARA KINGSOLVER She married him two years ago for love, or so she thought, and he's a good enough man but a devotee ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I’m always looking at the dialectic between the truth we believe exists outside ourselves and the ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Alice hands Annawake a handkerchief. Young people never carry them, she's noticed. They haven't yet ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The obstinate practicality of old women pierces and fortifies these families like the steel rods bur... BARBARA KINGSOLVER A woman knows she can walk away from a pot to tend something else and the pot will go on boiling; if... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's monstrous, what one person will do to another. BARBARA KINGSOLVER She has changed in this way that motherhood changes you, so that you forget you ever had time for sm... BARBARA KINGSOLVER You could love your crazy people, even admire them, instead of resenting that they're not self-suffi... BARBARA KINGSOLVER He lifts her breasts, which fit perfectly into his hands, though he knows this is no promise that he... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Be sweet and carry a sharp knife, was her motto. BARBARA KINGSOLVER He was my father. I own half his genes, and all of his history. Believe this: the mistakes are part ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I know what it is: it's a green mamba snake away up in the tree. You don't have to be afraid of them... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What a rich wisdom it would be, and how much more bountiful a harvest, to gain pleasure not from ach... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What there is in this world, I think, is a tendency for human errors to level themselves like water ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Finally Cub said, "They don't call it global weirding." "I know. But I think that's actually th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER restraint equals indulgence BARBARA KINGSOLVER It is harrowing for me to try to teach 20-year-old students, who earnestly want to improve their wri... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's surprising how much of memory is built around things unnoticed at the time BARBARA KINGSOLVER Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they t... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Why does a person even get up in the morning? You have breakfast, you floss your teeth so you'll hav... BARBARA KINGSOLVER In my own worst seasons I've come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I was trained in classical piano, but it kind of dawned on me that classical pianists compete for si... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Mistakes wreck your life. But they make what you have. It's kind of all one. You know what Hester to... BARBARA KINGSOLVER There can be no greater spiritual accomplishment than to come through brutal trials and then look ba... BARBARA KINGSOLVER If you can't live by the laws the LORD God made for the world, they'll go into effect regardless. BARBARA KINGSOLVER always tried to be positive with her, although I’d learned BARBARA KINGSOLVER A disappointed-looking Jesus eyed her from the wall...Look, look, her steps called out, here is a re... BARBARA KINGSOLVER If people really gave it full consideration, I mean, like if you could return a baby after thirty da... BARBARA KINGSOLVER She made it plain that her fondest wish was to have a grandbaby. Whenever fat Irene would pick up th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Do you know, I spent the first half of my life avoiding motherhood and tires, and now I’m counting... BARBARA KINGSOLVER There is no point in treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, There ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER When I was Turtle’s age I had never had anyone or anything important taken from me. I still hadn�... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I never could figure out why men thought they could impress a woman by making the world out to be su... BARBARA KINGSOLVER We do have some strong traditions of community in the United States, but it’s interesting to me th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER That means you're my kid," I explained, "and I'm your mother, and nobody can say it isn't so. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt H... BARBARA KINGSOLVER So one time when I was working in this motel one of the toilets leaked and I had to replace the flap... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It was hard to feel the remotest sympathy for any of the different fools she'd been. As opposed to t... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Whatever you want the most, it’s going to be the worst thing for you. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Mi'ija, in a world as wrong as this one, all we can do is to make things as right as we can. BARBARA KINGSOLVER You think you're the foreigner here, and I'm the American, and I just look the other way while the P... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I’ve been thinking about that. About how your kids aren’t really yours, they’re just these peo... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is li... BARBARA KINGSOLVER You're asking yourself, Can I give this child the best possible upbringing and keep her out of harm'... BARBARA KINGSOLVER That was when we smelled the rain. It was so strong it seemed like more than just a smell. When we s... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Tortolita, let me tell you a story,” Estevan said. “This is a South American, wild Indian story ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's terrible to lose somebody, but it's also true that some people never have anybody to lose, and ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I had decided early on that if I couldn’t dress elegant, I’d dress memorable. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer. BARBARA KINGSOLVER A human being can be good or bad or right or wrong, maybe. But how can you say a person is illegal? ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER There were two things about Mama. One is she always expected the best out of me. And the other is th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The flowers were beaten down, their bent-over heads bejeweled with diamond droplets like earring on ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The longer I think about a food industry organized around an animal that cannot reproduce itself wit... BARBARA KINGSOLVER If it crosses your mind that water running through hundreds of miles of open ditch in a desert will ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Most of us are creatures so comforted by habit, it can take something on the order of religion to in... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Every time I write a new novel about something sombre and sobering and terrible I think, 'oh Lor... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Spring is made of solid, fourteen-karat gratitude, the reward for the long wait. Every religious tra... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Why is it that only girls stand on the sides of their feet? As if they're afraid to plant themselves... BARBARA KINGSOLVER You think you're no good, so you can't do good things. Jesus, Codi, how long are you going to keep l... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Awareness is everything. Hallie once pointed out to me that people worry a lot more about the eterni... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Memory runs along deep, fixed channels in the brain, like electricity along its conduits; only a cat... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What keeps you going isn't just some fine destination but the road you're on and the fact you know h... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Perhaps growing up meant we put our knives away and feigned ignorance of the damage. BARBARA KINGSOLVER There was a roaring in my ears and I lost track of what they were saying. I believe it was the physi... BARBARA KINGSOLVER You can’t replace people you love with other people…But you can trust that you’re not going to... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's one thing to carry your life wherever you go. Another thing to always go looking for it somewhe... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Insomnia’s different,” I said. It was hard to explain this to people. “You know the light that... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Sometimes I still have American dreams. I mean literally. I see microwave ovens and exercise machine... BARBARA KINGSOLVER To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyon... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I don't expect to see perfection before I die. Lord, if I did I would have stuck my head in the oven... BARBARA KINGSOLVER But children robbed of love will dwell on magic. BARBARA KINGSOLVER You're thinking of revolution as a great all-or-nothing. I think of it as one more morning in a mugg... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I thought: this is how life is, ridiculous beyond comprehension. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I've about decided that's the main thing that separates happy people from the other people: the feel... BARBARA KINGSOLVER The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do i... BARBARA KINGSOLVER At some point in my life I'd honestly hoped love would rescue me from the cold, drafty castle I live... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Your dreams, what you hope for and all that, it's not separate from your life. It grows right up out... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Emelina and I took each other in. All morning I'd felt the strange disjuncture that comes from recon... BARBARA KINGSOLVER A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from th... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER What I want is so simple I almost can't say it: elementary kindness. BARBARA KINGSOLVER She kept swimming out into life because she hadn't yet found a rock to stand on. BARBARA KINGSOLVER He warned Mother not to flout God's Will by expecting too much of us. "Sending a girl to college is ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER ....mountains. They stand at every view, like a mother offering a blanket in which to wrap everyday ... BARBARA KINGSOLVER But I'll tell you a secret. When I want to take God at his word exactly I take a peep out the window... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Because I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for me, or paused at least to strike a glancing... BARBARA KINGSOLVER When you're given a brilliant child you polish her and let her shine. Pigs in Heaven BARBARA KINGSOLVER As long as I kept moving, my grief streamed out behind me like a swimmer's long hair in water. I kne... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I don't bring expectations to any of my books. I don't tell people what to do. I want to inv... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Nonfiction requires enormous discipline. You construct the terms of your story, and then you stick t... BARBARA KINGSOLVER When I sit down to write, I consider myself an artist. BARBARA KINGSOLVER I know I'm a rare person, a trained scientist who writes fiction, because so few contemporary no... BARBARA KINGSOLVER Most every book I bring into the world is like birthing a baby; it's a lot of effort! BARBARA KINGSOLVER After 'The Poisonwood Bible' was published, several people believed that my parents were mis... BARBARA KINGSOLVER It's a funny thing: people often ask how I discipline myself to write. I can't begin to unde... BARBARA KINGSOLVER At home, growing up, we weren't really poor. We had everything we needed, we just didn't hav... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves. BARBARA KINGSOLVER Being a novelist and being a mother have exactly coincided in my life: the call from my agent saying... BARBARA KINGSOLVER I'm not pretending to be ingenuous; I know what I'm doing. BARBARA KINGSOLVER