---
title: "2 Affirming Quotes By David Abram"
description: "2 Affirming quotes by David Abram. Plus more from David Abram and more Affirming sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74a/david-abram-15943_active_if-on-the-other-hand-we-wish-to-describe_981453.jpg"
---

> [If, on the other hand, we wish to describe a particular phenomenon without repressing our direct experience, then we cannot avoid speaking of the phenomenon as an active, animate entity with which we find ourselves engaged. To the sensing body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/if-on-the-other-hand-we-wish-to-describe-a-particular-phenomenon/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74a/david-abram-15943_active_if-on-the-other-hand-we-wish-to-describe_981453.jpg)

> [Only by affirming the animateness of perceived things do we allow our words to emerge directly from the depths of our ongoing reciprocity with the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/only-by-affirming-the-animateness-of-perceived-things-do-we-allow-our/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/965/david-abram-15943_affirming_only-by-affirming-the-animateness-of-per_2045698.png)

## More by David Abram

> [Does the human intellect, or "reason," really spring us free from our inherence in the depths of this wild proliferation of forms? Or on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/does-the-human-intellect-or-reason-really-spring-us-free-from-our/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [“Human language, for us moderns, has swung in on itself, turning its back on the beings around us. Language is a human property, suitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/human-language-for-us-moderns-has-swung-in-on-itself-turning-its-back/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [Only as the written text began to speak would the voices of the forest, and of the river, begin to fade. And only then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/only-as-the-written-text-began-to-speak-would-the-voices-of-the/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [Each place its own mind, its own psyche! Oak, Madrone, Douglas fir, red-tailed hawk, serpentine in the sandstone, a certain scale to the topography,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/each-place-its-own-mind-its-own-psyche-oak-madrone-douglas-fir-red/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [What is magic? In the deepest sense, magic is an experience. It's the experience of finding oneself alive within a world that is itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/what-is-magic-in-the-deepest-sense-magic-is-an-experience-it-s-the/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [Other animals, in a constant and mostly unmediated relation with their sensory surroundings, think with the whole of their bodies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/other-animals-in-a-constant-and-mostly-unmediated-relation-with-their/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [The telling of stories, like singing and praying, would seem to be an almost ceremonial act, an ancient and necessary mode of speech that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/the-telling-of-stories-like-singing-and-praying-would-seem-to-be-an/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [Such reciprocity is the very structure of perception. We experience the sensuous world only by rendering ourselves vulnerable to that world. Sensory perception is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/such-reciprocity-is-the-very-structure-of-perception-we-experience/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [“Ecologically considered, it is not primarily our verbal statements that are "true" or "false," but rather the kind of relations that we sustain with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/ecologically-considered-it-is-not-primarily-our-verbal-statements/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [A particular place in the land is never, for an oral culture, just a passive or inert setting for the human events that occur…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/a-particular-place-in-the-land-is-never-for-an-oral-culture-just-a/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [If, on the other hand, we wish to describe a particular phenomenon without repressing our direct experience, then we cannot avoid speaking of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/if-on-the-other-hand-we-wish-to-describe-a-particular-phenomenon/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/we-are-human-only-in-contact-and-conviviality-with-what-is-not-human/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [The animate earth - this moody terrain that we experience differently in anger and in joy, in grief and in love - is both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/the-animate-earth-this-moody-terrain-that-we-experience-differently/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [To describe the animate life of particular things is simply the most precise and parsimonious way to articulate the things as we spontaneously experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/to-describe-the-animate-life-of-particular-things-is-simply-the-most/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

> [Sensory perception is the silken web that binds our separate nervous systems into the encompassing ecosystem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/sensory-perception-is-the-silken-web-that-binds-our-separate-nervous/)

[David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/)

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