There is a furnace in our cells, and when we breathe we pass the world through our bodies, brew it lightly, and turn it loose again, gently altered for having known us. Diane Ackerman More Quotes by Diane Ackerman More Quotes From Diane Ackerman On some summer days in New York City, the air hangs thickly visible, like the combined exhalations of eight million souls. Steam rising from vents underground makes you wonder if there isn't one giant sweat gland lodged beneath the city. Diane Ackerman eight new-york summer Culture is what people invent when they have lost nature. Diane Ackerman lost culture people Habitats keep evolving new pageants of species, and we shouldn't interfere. Diane Ackerman pageant habitat evolve In the winter, I enjoy cross-country skiing and raising orchids and amaryllises. If I could grow tropical flowers as perennials, I would, especially hibiscus and mandavilla. Diane Ackerman flower winter country For better or worse, zoos are how most people come to know big or exotic animals. Few will ever see wild penguins sledding downhill to sea on their bellies, giant pandas holding bamboo lollipops in China or tree porcupines in the Canadian Rockies, balled up like giant pine cones. Diane Ackerman sea animal zoos It's so acceptably easy for a woman not to strive too hard, not to be too adventure-crazed, not to take too many risks, not to enjoy sex with full candor ... It isn't seemly for a woman to have that much zest. Diane Ackerman zest adventure sex Our skin is what stands between us and the world. Diane Ackerman skins world I think that very often younger writers don't appreciate how much hard work is involved in writing. The part of writing that's magic is the thinnest rind on the world of creation. Most of a writer's life is just work. It happens to be a kind of work that the writer finds fulfilling in the same way that a watchmaker can happily spend countless hours fiddling over the tiny cogs and bits of wire. ... I think the people who end up being writers are people who don't get bored doing that kind of tight focus in small areas. Diane Ackerman hard-work writing thinking Life is a thing that mutates without warning, not always in enviable ways. All part of the improbable adventure of being alive, of being a brainy biped with giant dreams on a crazy blue planet. Diane Ackerman crazy dream life Who you are isn't tied solely to what you say, even though it may feel that way to you now. Diane Ackerman may philosophy way Hurricane season brings a humbling reminder that, despite our technologies, most of nature remains unpredictable. Diane Ackerman reminders hurricanes technology Part of the irony of environmentalism is questing for solutions when you know you're part of the problem. Diane Ackerman irony problem knows Shaped a little like a loaf of French country bread, our brain is a crowded chemistry lab, bustling with nonstop neural conversations. Diane Ackerman neurons brain country So often loneliness comes from being out of touch with parts of oneself. We go searching for those parts in other people, but there's a difference between feeling separate from others and separate from oneself. Diane Ackerman differences loneliness people Writer's block is a luxury most people with deadlines don't have. Diane Ackerman luxury block people Artificial intelligence is growing up fast, as are robots whose facial expressions can elicit empathy and make your mirror neurons quiver. Diane Ackerman growing-up mirrors expression We tend to think of heroes only in terms of violent combat, whether it's against enemies or a natural disaster. But human beings also perform radical acts of compassion; we just don't talk about them, or we don't talk about them as much. Diane Ackerman compassion hero thinking We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as necessary physical and spiritual companions. Technological nature can't completely satisfy that yearning. Diane Ackerman spiritual may animal Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, yet no one agrees on just what it is. Diane Ackerman falling-in-love missing-you sweet I believe consciousness is brazenly physical, a raucous mirage the brain creates to help us survive. Diane Ackerman mirages brain believe
