In Utah alone, ten million acres are open for business. Their policy is not about the public or the public's best interest. It is about the oil and gas corporations' best interests. Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes From Terry Tempest Williams Water is nothing if not ingemination, an encore to the tenacity of life. Terry Tempest Williams encores tenacity water I love the interrelatedness of things. Terry Tempest Williams interrelatedness The sin we commit against each other as women is lack of support. We hurt. We hurt each other. We hide. We project. We become mute or duplicitous, and we fester like boiling water until one day we erupt like a geyser. Do we forget we unravel in grief? Terry Tempest Williams grief hurt water I was invited to give the Freshmen Convocation at Florida Gulf Coast University on October 24, 2004. My book The Open Space of Democracy had been selected as one of the "common readers" for the university's 1,050 entering freshmen. On October 6, William Merwin, the president of Florida Gulf Coast, made the decision to "postpone" the convocation. He cited negative statements I had made in print about President Bush. If our colleges and universities are no longer the champions and protectors of free speech, then no voice in this country is safe. Terry Tempest Williams college country book I think that water is a tremendous organizing principle. Terry Tempest Williams principles water thinking Story is a relationship between the teller and the listener, a responsibility. After the listening you become accountable for the sacred knowledge that has been shared. Terry Tempest Williams responsibility stories listening We forget the nature of true power. The power within is abundance. The power without is greed. Terry Tempest Williams true-power greed forget The hostility of this landscape teaches me how to be quiet and unobtrusive, how to find grace among spiders with a poisonous bite. I sat on a lone boulder in the midst of the curlews. By now, they had grown accustomed to me. This too, I found encouraging-that in the face of stressful intrusions, we can eventually settle in. One begins to almost trust the intruder as a presence that demands greater intent toward life. On a day like today when the air is dry and smells of salt, I have found my open space, my solitude, and sky. And I have found the birds who require it. Terry Tempest Williams smell space air I believe that when we are fully present, we not only live well, we live well for others. Terry Tempest Williams live-well i-believe believe We find our voice, we lose our voice, we retrieve it, honor it, and hopefully, learn how to share it with others and stand in the center of our power. Translation is a theme. Fear and courage are a theme. Terry Tempest Williams voice honor share I am not so interested in religion or dogma of any kind. It is too restrictive for me, too organizational, too hierarchical, and too tied up in power and being right. You call it a "rabid evangelism." Terry Tempest Williams evangelism dogma kind To engage in civil disobedience is to feel the abundance of courage, the gratitude for a democracy that still invites us to speak from our hearts, to act from our conscience and have faith in the consequences of moral action. Abundance is a form of consciousness. Terry Tempest Williams gratitude democracy heart Through revision, I enter the realm of the unspeakable and find the words that have eluded me. Terry Tempest Williams unspeakable revision realms I really do believe if there is hope in the world, then it is to be found within our own communities with our own neighbors, and within our own homes and families. Terry Tempest Williams community home believe We are aching to come together and I think it has little to do with liberal or conservative discourse. I think it has to do with increasing disconnection with what is real and soul-serving. Terry Tempest Williams real soul thinking I wonder about silence. Also about darkness. I love the idea that city lights are a "conspiracy" against higher thoughts. Terry Tempest Williams light cities ideas Greed is a deprivation of abundance, a hoarding, a constriction of energy. Terry Tempest Williams hoarding greed energy We are contemporary citizens living in a technological world. Swimming in crosscultural waters can be dangerous, and if you are honest you can't stay there very long. Sooner or later you have to look at your own reflection and decide what to do with yourself. We are urban people. We make periodic pilgrimages to the country. . . . If we align ourselves with the spirit of place we will find humility fused with joy. The land holds stories. Terry Tempest Williams swimming humility country We're animals, I think we forget that. I think there is an ancient archetypal memory that still exists within us. If we deny that, what is the cost? So I do think it's what binds us as human beings. Terry Tempest Williams animal memories thinking I think wherever we are, we can create an atmosphere of openness and trust, where women and those who feel marginalized feel safe to speak the truth of their lives. Terry Tempest Williams atmosphere safe thinking
