I’ve about decided that’s the main thing that separates happy people from the other people: the feeling that you’re a practical item, with a use, like a sweater or a socket wrench.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERI’ve about decided that’s the main thing that separates happy people from the other people: the feeling that you’re a practical item, with a use, like a sweater or a socket wrench.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERIt’s one thing to carry your life wherever you go. Another thing to always go looking for it somewhere else.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERIt’s surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERFinally, cooking is good citizenship. It’s the only way to get serious about putting locally raised foods into your diet, which keeps farmlands healthy and grocery money in the neighborhood.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERThe artist deals with what cannot be said in words. The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERFrom my earliest memory, times of crisis seemed to end up with women in the kitchen preparing food for men.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERYou can be as earnest and ridiculous as you need to be, if you don’t attempt it in isolation. The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups. And they are known to change the world.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERThat was when we smelled the rain. It was so strong it seemed like more than just a smell. When we stretched out our hands we could practically feel it rising up from the ground. I don’t know how a person could ever describe that scent.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERDoes a man become a revolutionary out of the belief he’s entitled to joy rather than submission?
BARBARA KINGSOLVERA sound-bite culture can’t discuss science very well. Exactly what we’re losing when we reduce biodiversity, the causes and consequences of global warming-these traumas can’t be adequately summarized in an evening news wrap-up.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERIt’s terrible to lose somebody, but it’s also true that some people never have anybody to lose, and I think that’s got to be so much worse.
BARBARA KINGSOLVEREvery life is different because you passed this way and touched history.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERFiction and essays can create empathy for the theoretical stranger.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERI’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERGiven my own circumstances, I find that anything can turn out to belong nearly anywhere.
BARBARA KINGSOLVERI do my best work if I think about what it is I have to offer.
BARBARA KINGSOLVER