We live on the leash of our senses. Diane Ackerman More Quotes by Diane Ackerman More Quotes From Diane Ackerman I consider fiction a very high-class form of lying. I enjoy and admire it enormously, but I don't think I'm very good at it. Diane Ackerman classlyingthinking The knowing, I told myself, is only a vapor of the mind, and yet it can wreck havok with one's sanity. Diane Ackerman wrecksknowingmind Working from home meant we could vary snack and coffee breaks, change our desks or view, goof off, drink on the job, even spend the day in pajamas, and often meet to gossip or share ideas. On the other hand, we bossed ourselves around, set impossible goals, and demanded longer hours than office jobs usually entail. It was the ultimate "flextime," in that it depended on how flexible we felt each day, given deadlines, distractions, and workaholic crescendos. Diane Ackerman coffeeworkjobs Disassociating, mindfulness, transcendence-whatever the label-it's a sort of loophole in our contract with reality, a form of self-rescue. Diane Ackerman mindfulnessselfreality My mother always said I must be part Mongolian because of my lotus-pale complexion and squid-ink black hair. Diane Ackerman squidsmotherhair Living with anyone for many years takes skill. To keep peace in the household, couples learn to adapt to one another, hopefully in positive ways. Diane Ackerman coupleskillsyears The idea of safety had shrunk into particles - one snug moment, then the next. Meanwhile, the brain piped fugues of worry and staged mind-theaters full of tragedies and triumphs, because unfortunately, the fear of death does wonders to focus the mind, inspire creativity, and heightens the senses. Trusting one's hunches only seems gamble if one has time for seem; otherwise the brain goes on autopilot and trades the elite craft of analysis for the best rapid insights that float up from its danger files and ancient bag of tricks. Diane Ackerman creativityworryideas I'm certainly not opposed to digital technology, whose graces I daily enjoy and rely on in so many ways. But I worry about our virtual blinders. Diane Ackerman technologygraceworry As fleeting emotions stalk it, a face can leak fear or the guilt of a forming lie. Diane Ackerman fleetingguiltlying 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 cellsbodyworld Though we marry as adults, we don't marry adults. We marry children who have grown up and still rejoice in being children, especially if we're creative. Diane Ackerman marriagecreativechildren One of the things I like best about animals in the wild is that they're always off on some errand. They have appointments to keep. It's only we humans who wonder what we're here for. Diane Ackerman errandswonderanimal Shaped a little like a loaf of French country bread, our brain is a crowded chemistry lab, bustling with nonstop neural conversations.Imagine the brain, that shiny mound of being, that mouse-gray parliament of cells, that dream factory, that petit tyrant inside a ball of bone, that huddle of neurons calling all the plays, that little everywhere, that fickle pleasuredome, that wrinkled wardrobe of selves stuffed into the skull like too many clothes into a gym bag. Diane Ackerman clothesdreamcountry Which is crueler, an old man's lost memories of a life lived, or a young man's lost memories of the life he meant to live? Diane Ackerman lostmenmemories I try to give myself passionately, totally, to whatever I'm observing, with as much affectionate curiosity as I can muster, as a means of understanding a little better what being human is. Diane Ackerman passiongivingmean We have vexed and bothered every plant and every animal on every continent. Diane Ackerman plantevolutionanimal The daftest logic brings such sweet unrest. Diane Ackerman unrestlogicsweet We humans are obsessed with lights...Perhaps it is our way of hurling the constellations back at the sky. Diane Ackerman lightskyway Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world. ... they bring the world into focus, they corral ideas, they hone thoughts, they paint watercolors of perception. Diane Ackerman focusperceptionideas Mystery causes a mental itch, which the brain tries to soothe with the balm of reasonable talk. Diane Ackerman causesbraintrying
