Whatever you believe, you need faith to get through the day. Tim Winton More Quotes by Tim Winton More Quotes From Tim Winton The beachcomber goes looking for trouble, everything he finds is a sign of trouble. The writer is the same; without trouble he has nothing to work with, so he picks over the tide line, over the bits and pieces of people's lives with grim fascination. Tim Winton nature beach people Humour is God's special gift to humanity. Handy, because it turns out to be necessary. Tim Winton humour humanity special And though I've lived to be an old man with my very own share of happiness for all the mess I made, I still judge every joyous moment, every victory and revelation against those few seconds of living. Tim Winton judging reflection men When I was a girl I had this strong feeling that I didn't belong anywhere,... It was in my head, what I thought and dreamt, what I believed..., that's where I belonged, that was my country. Tim Winton girl strong country It's dark already and I'm out here again, talking, telling the story to the quiet night. Tim Winton dark night art Surfing is one of the most joyful pursuits a human can take up. But there's no joy in a deadzone. If you've ever surfed in turds and medical waste you don't want to repeat the experience. Tim Winton surfing want joy Surfing is sensual. It's a real-time engagement with the forces of nature, which happen to be echoes of the past (which after all, is all a wave really is). Briefly we defy gravity and ride the energy of storms from elsewhere. We are intensely alone as we do it and yet completely swallowed by something larger that enforces a sense of perspective and connectedness to the natural world. It's an experience we yearn to repeat so we go searching for it again and again and we spend years sitting in the water waiting for these radiating lines to come in across the event horizon. Tim Winton real past years Nothing is as daunting as the threats associated with global warming. That's the biggie. Everyone bangs on about rising sea levels but the real challenge of a warming planet is ocean acidification. An acid ocean spells the end of life on earth. Tim Winton ocean real sea Australia was once a leader in taking global warming seriously. The former PM [Kevin Rudd] called it 'greatest moral challenge of our time'. But in the past couple of years the national consensus has been eroded and Australians are being encouraged by the polluters and their mates in Parliament to forget it was ever mentioned. It's heartbreaking. Tim Winton australia couple past I grew up in a family that believed love was at work in the world. I guess that's a religious idea, though of course it needn't be. Tim Winton religious world ideas Surfers are the canaries down the mine. Those of us who surf spend more time than anyone soaking in whatever the sea has become. We're suspended in consequences, you might say. Tim Winton surf sea might It's funny, but you never really think much about breathing. Until it's all you ever think about. Tim Winton breathing thinking The health of our seas determines the future of humanity. Tim Winton determine humanity sea The end of the world begins in the sea we love. Tim Winton end-of-the-world sea world Yet however comforting and peaceful beach-combing is, it ends up like the sea, as disturbing as it is reassuring. In dark moments I believe that walking on a beach at low tide is to be looking for death, or at least anticipating it. You will only find the dead, the spilled and the cast-off. Things torn free of their life or their place. Tim Winton nature beach believe Wherever I went I felt like the last person awake in a room full of sleepers Tim Winton awake lasts rooms It's sadness coming on like the old days, the vast seamless hopeless weight of sadness looking for a place to rest. Tim Winton hopeless sadness weight I came home at dusk with my ears ringing from the quiet. Tim Winton ears home quiet Somewhere a bicycle bell rings. Somewhere else there's a war on. Somewhere else people turn to shadows and powder in an instant and the streets turn to funnels and light the sky with their burning. Somewhere a war is over. Tim Winton light somewhere-else war I liked books - the respite and privacy of them - books about plants and the formation of ice and the business of world wars. Whenever I sank into them I felt free. Tim Winton war book art