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 When you're given a brilliant child you polish her and let her shine. Pigs in Heaven Barbara Kingsolver pigs heaven children Fiction and essays can create empathy for the theoretical stranger. Barbara Kingsolver empathy stranger fiction If the Lord hasn't got a boyfriend lined up for me to marry, that's his business. Barbara Kingsolver ifs lord Morality is not a large, constructed *thing* you have or have not, but simply a capacity. Something you carry with you in your brain and in your hands. Barbara Kingsolver morality brain hands No matter what kind of night you're having, morning always wins. Barbara Kingsolver winning morning night Everyone should get dirt on his hands each day. Doctors, intellectuals. Politicians, most of all. How can we presume to uplift the life of the working man, if we don't respect his work? Barbara Kingsolver doctors uplifting men I struggle with confidence, every time. I’m never completely sure I can write another book. Maybe my scope is too grand, my questions too hard, surely readers won’t want to follow me here. A novel is like a cathedral, it knocks you down to size when you enter into it. Barbara Kingsolver struggle writing book Americans who read and think are patriots of the first order. The kind who know enough to roll their eyes whenever anyone tries to claim sole custody of the flag and weild it as a blunt instrument. There are as many ways to love America as there are Americans, and our country needs us all. Barbara Kingsolver eye country thinking He had senile dementia and liked to go outside naked, but he could still do two things perfectly: win at checkers and write out prescriptions. Barbara Kingsolver winning writing funny It's tough to break yourself as news to a town that already knows you. Barbara Kingsolver tough news towns I don't look like who I am. Barbara Kingsolver who-i-am looks We tap our toes to chaste love songs about the silvery moon without recognizing them as hymns to copulation. Barbara Kingsolver hymns moon song It is completely usual for me to get up in the morning, take a look around, and laugh out loud. Barbara Kingsolver usual morning laughing This will be Great Mam's last spring. Her last June apples. Her last fresh roasting ears from the garden. Barbara Kingsolver garden june spring Food is the rare moral arena in which the ethical choice is generally the one more likely to make you groan with pleasure. Barbara Kingsolver arena moral choices The things I carry closest to my heart are things I can't own. Barbara Kingsolver closest my-heart heart The way I see it, a person isn't nothing more than a scarecrow... The only difference between one that stands up good and one that blows over is what kind of a stick they're stuck up there on. Barbara Kingsolver differences blow way No kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred. Barbara Kingsolver bombs kind hatred Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, writers will go to stupefying lengths to get the infernal roar of words out of their skulls and onto paper. Barbara Kingsolver skulls swim bird Parenting is something that happens mostly while you're thinking of something else. Barbara Kingsolver happens thinking