Something in me was always watching life from the outside, permanently obsessed with the notion of belonging vs. not-belonging [to a group]. It did not make for a happy childhood, but it was excellent training for a writer. Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes by Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes From Barbara Kingsolver It is true that I do not speak as well as I can think. But that is true of most people, as nearly as I can tell. Barbara Kingsolver speak people thinking You know what the issue is? Do you want to know? It's what these guys have decided to call America. They have the audacity to say, 'There, you sons of bitches, don't lay a finger on it. That is a finished product.'" "But any country is still in the making. Always. That's just history, people have to see that. Barbara Kingsolver country america son If you ask me, when something extraordinary shows up in your life in the middle of the night, you give it a name and make it the best home you can. Barbara Kingsolver names home night Over the last decade our country has lost an average of 300 farms a week. Large or small, each of those was the lifes work of a real person or family, people who built their lives around a promise and watched it break. Barbara Kingsolver real animal country No reporter worth his buttons will let the facts intrude on a good story. Barbara Kingsolver buttons stories facts You know reviewers, they are the wind in their own sails. Barbara Kingsolver reviewers sail wind What we end up calling history is a kind of knife, slicing down through time. A few people are hard enough to bend its edge. But most won't even stand close to the blade. I'm one of those. We don't bend anything. Barbara Kingsolver knives calling people Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization. Barbara Kingsolver pavement feet civilization Sometimes I prayed for Baby Jesus to make me good, but Baby Jesus didn't. Barbara Kingsolver baby sometimes jesus Awareness is everything. Hallie once pointed out to me that people worry a lot more about the eternity *after* their deaths than the eternity that happened before they were born. But it's the same amount of infinity, rolling out in all directions from where we stand. Barbara Kingsolver infinity worry people Watching Italians eat (especially men, I have to say) is a form of tourism the books don't tell you about. They close their eyes, raise their eyebrows into accent marks, and make sounds of acute appreciation. It's fairly sexy. Of course I don't know how these men behave at home, if they help with the cooking or are vain and boorish and mistreat their wives. I realized Mediterranean cultures have their issues. Fine, don't burst my bubble. I didn’t want to marry these guys, I just wanted to watch. (p. 247) Barbara Kingsolver sexy appreciation book My life is a pitiful, mechanical thing without a past, like a little wind-up car, ready to run in any direction someone points me. Barbara Kingsolver running wind past Independence is a complex word in a foreign tongue. To resist occupation, whether you're a nation or merely a woman, you must understand the language of your enemy. Conquest and liberation and democrac and divorce are words that mean squat, basically, when you have hungry children and clothes to get out on the line and it looks like rain. Barbara Kingsolver rain mean children Do you think its possible to live without wanting to put your name on your paintings? To belong to a group so securely you don't need to rise above it? Barbara Kingsolver groups names thinking What you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you might not exist. You could be nowhere at all. Barbara Kingsolver space might reality Last time I talked to her she didn't sound like herself. She's depressed. It's awful what happens when people run out of money. They start thinking they're no good. Barbara Kingsolver running people thinking There's always a part of your nation's history that you haven't been told that... has a powerful impact on how you yourself may behave and may believe. Barbara Kingsolver impact powerful believe To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another that is surely the basic instinct - crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is! Barbara Kingsolver uplifting change hope She kept swimming out into life because she hadn't yet found a rock to stand on. Barbara Kingsolver swimming rocks found What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. Barbara Kingsolver fine destination facts
