The wrong words are impossible when there are no words. Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes by Barbara Kingsolver More Quotes From Barbara Kingsolver But still, I’d be darned if I was going to be one of those Americans who stomp around Italy barking commands in ever-louder English. I was going to be one of those Americans who traversed Italy with my forehead knit in concentration, divining wordsw from their Latin roots and answering by wedging French cognates into Italian pronunciations spliced onto a standard Spanish verb conjugation. Barbara Kingsolver italian latin animal I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary. Barbara Kingsolver political writing thinking restraint equals indulgence Barbara Kingsolver indulgence restraint The bad thing about small-town life is that everybody knows your business...I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves. Barbara Kingsolver obsession I know I'm a rare person, a trained scientist who writes fiction, because so few contemporary novelists engage with science. Barbara Kingsolver rare-person novelists writing I don't bring expectations to any of my books. I don't tell people what to do. I want to invite them in. Barbara Kingsolver expectations book people The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away. Barbara Kingsolver birthday best-friend friendship It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer. Barbara Kingsolver controversial-topics political writing Small change, small wonders - these are the currency of my endurance and ultimately of my life. Barbara Kingsolver small-changes endurance wonder The moth settled onto the curtain and sat still. It was an astonishing creature, with black and white wings patterned in geometric shapes, scarlet underwings, and a fat white body with black spots running down it like a snowman's coal buttons. No human eye had looked at this moth before; no one would see its friends. So much detail goes unnoticed in the world. Barbara Kingsolver black-and-white eye running Back then I was still appalled that God would set down his barefoot boy and girl dollies into an Eden where, presumably, He had just turned loose elephantiasis and microes that eat the human cornea. Now I understand, God is not just rooting fo the dollies. Barbara Kingsolver girl eden boys If you never stepped on anybody's toes, you never been for a walk. Barbara Kingsolver tact toes walks In Kilanga, people knew nothing of things they might have had - a Frigidaire? a washer-dryer combination? Really, they'd sooner imagine a tree that could pull up its feet and go bake bread. It didn't occur to them to feel sorry for themselves. Barbara Kingsolver sorry feet people People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around. Barbara Kingsolver dog dream running I think the most interesting parts of human experience might be the sparks that come from that sort of chipping flint of cultures rubbing against each other. Barbara Kingsolver culture interesting thinking But Anatole said suddenly, 'Don't expect God's protection in places beyond God's dominion. It will only make you feel punished. I'm warning you. When things go bad, you will blame yourself.' 'What are you telling me?' 'I am telling you what I'm telling you. Don't try to make life a mathematics problem with yourself in the center and everything coming out equal. When you are good, bad things can still happen. And if you are bad, you can still be lucky. Barbara Kingsolver lucky warning trying After 'The Poisonwood Bible' was published, several people believed that my parents were missionaries, which could not be further from the truth. Barbara Kingsolver parent missionary people Most of the girls my age, or even younger, have babies. They appear way too young to be married, till you look in their eyes. Then you'll see it. Their eyes look happy and sad at the same time, but unexcited by anything, shifting easily off to the side as if they've already seen most of what there is. Married eyes. Barbara Kingsolver girl eye baby Nonfiction requires enormous discipline. You construct the terms of your story, and then you stick to them. Barbara Kingsolver nonfiction discipline stories Terms like that, 'Humane Society,' are devised with people like me in mind, who don't care to dwell on what happens to the innocent. Barbara Kingsolver house animal people
