Barbara Kingsolver Quotes

There was a roaring in my ears and I lost track of what they were saying. I believe it was the physical manifestation of unbearable grief.

I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written.

Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember.

If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.

I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.

How pointless life could be, what a foolish business of inventing things to love, just so you could dread losing them.

Even feigning surprise, pretending it was unexpected and saying a ritual thanks, is surely wiser than just expecting everything so carelessly.

This story about good food begins in a quick-stop convenience market.

Life proceeds, it enrages. The untouched ones spend their luck without a thought, believing they deserve it.

Pure and unblemished souls must taste very bland, with an aftertaste of bitterness.

Loose lips sink ships.

This Forest eats itself and lives forever.

A dog can't think that much about what he's doing, he just does what feels right.

Feeling that morality has nothing to do with the way you use the resources of the world is an idea that can't persist much longer. If it does, then we won't.

We're surrounded by mandates, and I believe that literature should be mandate-free. I feel very strongly about that.

Our house is like an empty cigarette packet, lying around reminding you what's not in it.

High fashion has the shelf life of potato salad. And when past its prime, it is similarly deadly.

Don't wait for the muse. She has a lousy work ethic. Writers just write.

I personally am inclined to approach [housework] the way governments treat dissent: ignore it until it revolts.

I considered her my ally, because, like me, she was imperfect.

I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not. It would be easy to say oh, I have writer's block, oh, I have to wait for my muse. I don't. Chain that muse to your desk and get the job done.

I'm not pretending to be ingenuous; I know what I'm doing.

the conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners

The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.

You 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.

A certain feeling comes from throwing your good life away, and it is one part rapture.

Growing food was the first activity that gave us enough prosperity to stay in one place, form complex social groups, tell our stories, and build our cities.

Why is it that only girls stand on the sides of their feet? As if they're afraid to plant themselves?

Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used.

Be still, and the world is bound to turn herself inside out to entertain you. Everywhere you look, joyful noise is clanging to drown out quiet desperation.

If you're standing in the manure pile, it's somebody's job to mention the stink.

My worst nightmare is being stuck somewhere with nothing to read.

People read books to escape the uncertainties of life.

...whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And peace will be with you.

Humans can be fairly ridiculous animals.

Food culture in the United States has long been cast as the property of a privileged class. It is nothing of the kind. Culture is the property of a species.

you can't really know the person standing before you, because always there is some missing piece

Corn syrup and added fats have been outed as major ingredients in fast food, but they hide out in packaged foods too, even presumed-innocent ones like crackers.

Once you start cooking, one thing leads to another. A new recipe is as exciting as a blind date. A new ingredient, heaven help me, is an intoxicating affair.

Vengeance does not subtract any numbers from the equation of murder; it only adds them.

It's a great freedom to give up on love, and get on with everything else.

There are days when I am envious of my hens: when I hunger for a purpose as perfect and sure as a single daily egg.

Forgive me, O Heavenly Father, according to the multitude of Thy mercies. I have lusted in my heart to break a man's skull and scatter the stench of his brains across several people's back yards.

Your own family resemblances are a frustrating code, most easily read by those who know you least.

When you're given a brilliant child you polish her and let her shine. Pigs in Heaven

God, why does a mortal man have children? It is senseless to love anything this much.

Last time I talked to her she didn't sound like herself. She's depressed. It's awful what happens when people run out of money. They start thinking they're no good.

You can curse the dead or pray for them, but don't expect them to do a thing for you. They're far too interested in watching us, to see what in heaven's name we will do next.

You see mother, you had no life of your own. They have no idea. One has only a life of one's own.

Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization.