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Wendell Berry Quotes - Page 21

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I thought, He must forebear to reveal His power and glory by presenting Himself as Himself, and must be present only in the ordinary miracle of the existence of His creatures. Those who wish to see Him must see Him in

I thought, He must forebear to reveal His power and glory by presenting Himself as Himself, and must be present only in the ordinary miracle of the existence of His creatures. Those who wish to see Him must see Him in the poor, the hungry, the hurt, the wordless creatures, the groaning and travailing beautiful world.

Beautiful, Hurt, Miracle

Wendell Berry (2000). “Jayber Crow: A Novel”, Counterpoint LLC

But we can do nothing for the human future that we will not do for the human present. For the amelioration of the future condition of our kind we must look, not to the wealth or the genius of the coming generations, but to the quality of the disciplines and attitudes that we are preparing now for their use.

Attitude, Discipline, Quality

Wendell Berry (2012). “A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural”, p.127, Counterpoint Press

The damages of our present agriculture all come from the determination to use the life of the soil as if it were an extractable resource like coal.

Determination, Land, Agriculture

Wendell Berry (2015). “The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture”, p.73, Counterpoint

But in its de facto alliance with Caesar, Christianity connives directly in the murder of Creation. For in these days, Caesar is no longer a mere destroyer of armies, cities, and nations. He is a contradicter of the fundamental miracle of life.

Army, Cities, Miracle

Wendell Berry (2003). “The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry”, p.319, Counterpoint

Humans, like all other creatures, must make a difference; otherwise, they cannot live. But unlike other creatures, humans must make a choice as to the kind and scale of difference they make. If they choose to make too small a difference, they diminish their humanity. If they choose to make too great a difference, they diminish nature, and narrow their subsequent choices; ultimately, they diminish or destroy themselves. Nature, then, is not only our source but also our limit and measure.

Differences, Choices, Humanity

And I knew that the Spirit that had gone forth to shape the world and make it live was still alive in it. I just had no doubt. I could see that I lived in the created world, and it was still being created. I would be part of it forever. There was no escape. The Spirit that made it was in it, shaping it and reshaping it, sometimes lying at rest, sometimes standing up and shaking itself, like a muddy horse, and letting the pieces fly.

Horse, Lying, Forever

Wendell Berry (2001). “Jayber Crow: A Novel”, p.98, Counterpoint Press

We cannot hope to be secure when our government has declared, by its readiness to act alone, its willingness to be everybody's enemy.

Government, Enemy, Readiness

Wendell Berry, David James Duncan (2003). “Citizens Dissent: Security, Morality, and Leadership in an Age of Terror”

Explanation changes whatever is explained into something explainable.

Explanation

Wendell Berry (2001). “Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition”, Counterpoint Press

It is possible, I think, to say that... a Christian agriculture [is] formed upon the understanding that it is sinful for people to misuse or destroy what they did not make. The Creation is a unique, irreplaceable gift, therefore to be used with humility, respect, and skill.

Christian, Humility, Unique

Wendell Berry (1996). “The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture”, Counterpoint LLC

If you establish, or reestablish, local economies on the right scale and with the right standard, then politics would come right as a matter of course. I don't know what you'd call the result - probably not capitalism or socialism.

Matter, Socialism, Economy

Source: www.neh.gov

It's kind of alarming for me to realize that, when I'm writing stories about times I remember, it's already historical fiction.

Writing, Historical, Fiction

Source: www.neh.gov

You're making the grant of affection, forbearance, mercy, out of your own experience and, of course, out of cultural tradition. You're saying, to use the well-worn analogy, if I love my children, that puts me under obligation to assume that other people love theirs.

Children, People, Analogies

Source: www.neh.gov

I would consider myself simply a critic of the market economy. My standard isn't primarily political. First of all, it's ecological. And then I get to matters that are social and cultural.

Political, Matter, Firsts

Source: www.neh.gov

When you take away the subsistence economy, then your farm population is seriously exposed to the vagaries of the larger economy. As it used to be, the subsistence economy carried people through the hard times, and what you might call the housewife's economy of cream and eggs often held these farms and their families together.

Hard Times, Eggs, People

There are lots of bad things that can happen to a food economy that's both extensive and centralized. There's no substitute for petroleum. To have a growth economy based on a declining fuel supply is bound to be stressful.

Growth, Fuel, Economy

Wendell Berry, Morris Allen Grubbs (2007). “Conversations with Wendell Berry”, p.167, Univ. Press of Mississippi

American agriculture is badly in need of diversity. Another threat to the food system of course is the likelihood that petroleum is not going to get any cheaper.

Agriculture, Diversity, Needs

People talk about "job creation," as if that had ever been the aim the industrial economy. The aim was to replace people with machines.

Jobs, People, Machines

"Nature as an Ally: An Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Sarah Leonard, www.dissentmagazine.org. Spring 2012.

The discussion about food doesn't make any sense without discussion at the same time of land, land use, land policy, fertility maintenance, and farm infrastructure maintenance.

Land, Maintenance, Use

"Nature as an Ally: An Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Sarah Leonard, www.dissentmagazine.org. Spring 2012.

To have good farming or good land use of any kind, you have got to have limits. Capitalism doesn't acknowledge limits.

Land, Use, Limits

"Nature as an Ally: An Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Sarah Leonard, www.dissentmagazine.org. 2012.

Corn and bean people, I'm afraid, have extremely specialized minds.

People, Mind, Corn

"Nature as an Ally: An Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Sarah Leonard, www.dissentmagazine.org. Spring 2012.

The connections between people and land are dangerously oversimplified and mainly technological.

Land, People, Connections

"Nature as an Ally: An Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Sarah Leonard, www.dissentmagazine.org. Spring 2012.

The most available example of how poetry works for a poet is yourself, and yet you'll probably be the last one to know exactly how you're serving the art and how the art is serving you.

Art, Example, Lasts

"Singing to Keep the Mind Awake: Interview with Wendell Berry". Interview with Birkin Gilmore, poems.com. 2007.

Hunger is a powerful persuader if it happens, and it's conceivable that it could happen. Country people have always known this.

Country, Powerful, People

"A conversation with environmental campaigner Wendell Berry". Interview with Emma Brockes, www.theguardian.com. October 11, 201.

My label is just "good farming", which isn't something you can put on a t-shirt.

Labels, T Shirt, Farming

"A conversation with environmental campaigner Wendell Berry". Interview with Emma Brockes, www.theguardian.com. October 11, 2012.

You've got to reach towards a better language, and you're not going to make it up from scratch; you've got to reach back into the tradition. Western tradition is not as impoverished as a lot of people would like to think, but you'd have to go back before the industrial revolution; you may have to go back farther than that. Of course, the Bible has a perfectly adequate language, but it's suffered a lot of thoughtless wear.

Thinking, People, Scratches

Wendell Berry, Morris Allen Grubbs (2007). “Conversations with Wendell Berry”, p.172, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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