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Barbara Kingsolver Quotes - Page 7

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To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could

To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could also forget what had been done to it.

Barbara Kingsolver
Stupid, Thinking, Land

How pointless life could be, what a foolish business of inventing things to love, just so you could dread losing them.

Barbara Kingsolver
Loss, Losing, Foolish
Barbara Kingsolver (2008). “Prodigal Summer”, p.162, Faber & Faber

We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.

Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Mammals, Born
"Animal Dreams". p. 118. Book by Barbara Kingsolver, 1990.

I have my own sheep and I literally sheer the sheep and knot sweaters for friends and family from scratch.

Barbara Kingsolver
Sweaters, Sheep, Family And Friends
The Writers Write Interview, writerswrite.co.za. February 10, 2015.

There are some who'd hardly lift a finger for kindness, but they would haul up a load of rock to dump on some soul they think's been too lucky.

Barbara Kingsolver
Kindness, Thinking, Rocks

the novel is inherently a political instrument, regardless of its subject. It invites you - more than invites you, induces you - to live inside another person's skin. It creates empathy. And that's the antidote to bigotry. The novel doesn't just tell you about another life, which is what a newspaper would do. It makes you live another life, inhabit another perspective. And that's very important.

Barbara Kingsolver
Perspective, Empathy, Political

Prayer had always struck me as more or less a glorified attempt at a business transaction.

Barbara Kingsolver
Prayer, Transactions

I grew up aware of all the people I depended on and who depended on me.

Barbara Kingsolver
People, Grew Up, Grew
"Among the wild things" by Suzie Mackenzie, www.theguardian.com. November 17, 2000.

So one time when I was working in this motel one of the toilets leaked and I had to replace the flapper ball. Here's what it said on the package; I kept it till I knew it by heart: 'Please Note. Parts are included for all installations, but no installation requires all of the parts.' That's kind of my philosophy about men. I don't think there's an installation out there that could use all my parts.

Barbara Kingsolver
Philosophy, Heart, Men

Given my own circumstances, I find that anything can turn out to belong nearly anywhere.

Barbara Kingsolver
Given, Circumstances, Turns
Barbara Kingsolver (2008). “The Poisonwood Bible”, p.341, Faber & Faber

We agreed with him in principal - we were little scientists, born and bred. But children robbed of love will dwell on magic.

Barbara Kingsolver
Children, Magic, Littles

Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.

Barbara Kingsolver
Depression, Cancer, Sadness
Barbara KingSolver (1988). “The Bean Trees: A Novel”, Harpercollins

Quit smoking in the hope of growing old. It takes a long time to write. People go to books for wisdom and older authors tend to have more of it.

Barbara Kingsolver
Book, Writing, Long
The Writers Write Interview, writerswrite.co.za. February 10, 2015.

Every life is different because you passed this way and touched history... Listen being dead is not worse than being alive. It is different though. You could say the view is larger.

Barbara Kingsolver
Views, Different, Alive
Barbara Kingsolver (2008). “The Poisonwood Bible”, p.444, Faber & Faber

This is how moths speak to each other. They tell their love across the fields by scent. There is no mouth, the wrong words are impossible, either a mate is there or he is not, and if so the pair will find each other in the dark.

Barbara Kingsolver
Dark, Mouths, Scent
Barbara Kingsolver (2008). “Prodigal Summer”, p.44, Faber & Faber

Global commerce is driven by a single conviction: the inalienable right to earn profit, regardless of any human cost.

Barbara Kingsolver
Money, Greed, Cost
Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “Small Wonder”, p.16, Faber & Faber

there are people who read my work and accuse me of being political! As far as I'm concerned that's like accusing a dog of having a bark!

Barbara Kingsolver
Dog, People, Political

When we traded homemaking for careers, we were implicitly promised economic independence and worldly influence. But a devil of a bargain it has turned out to be in terms of daily life. We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families' tastes and zest for life; we received in exchange the minivan and the Lunchable.

Barbara Kingsolver
Zest, Careers, Creative

I'm widest awake as a writer doing something new, engaged in a process I'm not sure I can finish, generating at the edge of my powers. Some people bungee jump; I write.

Barbara Kingsolver
Writing, People, Something New

Humans can be fairly ridiculous animals.

Barbara Kingsolver
Animal, Vegetables, Miracle
Barbara Kingsolver (2010). “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating”, p.55, Faber & Faber

I didn't study writing in school, I studied biology as an undergraduate and graduate student. So I think that I write fiction in the scientific way. I love invention, obviously; I love creation of character. But I do feel very rooted in the real world, even in the way that I create characters.

Barbara Kingsolver
Real, Writing, School

Alice wonders if other women in the middle of the night have begun to resent their Formica.

Barbara Kingsolver
Night, Wonder, Middle
Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “Pigs in Heaven”, p.8, Faber & Faber

Value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing.

Barbara Kingsolver
Expectations, Balance, Pajamas
Barbara Kingsolver (2010). “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating”, p.287, Faber & Faber

High fashion has the shelf life of potato salad. And when past its prime, it is similarly deadly.

Barbara Kingsolver
Fashion, Past, Salad
Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “High Tide in Tucson”, p.46, Faber & Faber

I think that when people read fiction, they're really reading for wisdom. I am. That's what most of us really love. If we read a novel that rocks our world, it's because there's something in it that we didn't know already. Not just information but really wisdom - sort of what to do with our information. And wisdom comes from experience.

Barbara Kingsolver
Reading, Thinking, Our World
"Therapy in Reverse: An Interview with Barbara Kingsolver". Interview with Mia Lipman, www.omnivoracious.com. December 27, 2012.

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