--- title: "6 Destroying Quotes By Wendell Berry" description: "6 Destroying quotes by Wendell Berry. Plus more from Wendell Berry and more Destroying sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg" --- > [In Kentucky, we're destroying mountains, including their soils and forests, in order to get at the coal. In other words, we're destroying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-including-their-soils-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg) > [WE ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY - I mean our country itself, our land. This is a terrible thing to know, but it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our-country-itself-our-land-this/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35b/wendell-berry-236_choices_we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our_1230205.jpg) > [Obviously, if Christianity is going to survive as more than a respecter and comforter of profitable inquiries, then Christians, regardless of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-survive-as-more-than-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/wendell-berry-236_answers_obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-su_1398088.jpg) > [We are now, measurably, reducing the availability of these life-supporting goods which we can think of (though only on the conditions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-availability-of-these-life/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/wendell-berry-236_availability_we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-avail_2490061.jpg) > [The wrecking ball is characteristic of our way with materials. We 'cannot afford' to log a forest selectively, to mine without destroying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-our-way-with-materials-we/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/wendell-berry-236_balls_the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-o_2706891.jpg) > [... it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as family…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-surroundings-it-is-a-crisis-of/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/wendell-berry-236_citizens_it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-su_3223134.jpg) ## Other authors on Destroying ## More by Wendell Berry > [During the last 17 years... I have been working at the restoration of a once exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/during-the-last-17-years-i-have-been-working-at-the-restoration-of-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. Old usage tells us that there is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-to-save-to-make-last-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“The two families, sundered in the ruin of a friendship, were united again first in new friendship and then in mariage. My grandfather made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-two-families-sundered-in-the-ruin-of-a-friendship-were-united/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [The living can't quit living because the world has turned terrible and people they love and need are killed. They can't because they don't.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-living-can-t-quit-living-because-the-world-has-turned-terrible/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“I knew a man who, in the age of chain-saws, went right on cutting his wood with a handsaw and an axe. He was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-knew-a-man-who-in-the-age-of-chain-saws-went-right-on-cutting-his/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“The concept of country, homeland, dwelling place becomes simplified as "the environment" -- that is, what surrounds us, we have already made a profound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-concept-of-country-homeland-dwelling-place-becomes-simplified-as/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-community-is-the-mental-and-spiritual-condition-of-knowing-that-the/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“That we can prescribe the terms of our own success, that we can live outside or in ignorance of the Great Economy are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/that-we-can-prescribe-the-terms-of-our-own-success-that-we-can-live/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“The mind that comes to rest is tended In ways that it cannot intend: Is borne, preserved, and comprehended By what it cannot comprehend.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-mind-that-comes-to-rest-is-tended-in-ways-that-it-cannot-intend/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [The mercy of the world is time. Time does not stop for love, but it does not stop for death and grief, either.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-mercy-of-the-world-is-time-time-does-not-stop-for-love-but-it/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-lives-the-source-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-dislike-the-thought-that-some-animal-has-been-made-miserable-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/laughter-is-immeasurable-be-joyful/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [These are people who are capable of devotion, public devotion, to justice. They meant what they said and every day that passes, they mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/these-are-people-who-are-capable-of-devotion-public-devotion-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/#itemlist", "name": "6 Destroying Quotes By Wendell Berry", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In Kentucky, we're destroying mountains, including their soils and forests, in order to get at the coal. In other words, we're destroying a permanent value in order to get at an almost inconceivably transient value. That coal has a value only if and when it is burnt. And after it is burnt, it is a pollutant and a waste-a burden.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-including-their-soils-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In Kentucky, we're destroying mountains, including their soils and forests, in order to get at the coal. In…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "WE ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY - I mean our country itself, our land. This is a terrible thing to know, but it is not a reason for despair unless we decide to continue the destruction. If we decide to continue the destruction, that will not be because we have no other choice. This destruction is not necessary. It is not inevitable, except that by our submissiveness we make it so.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our-country-itself-our-land-this/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35b/wendell-berry-236_choices_we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our_1230205.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35b/wendell-berry-236_choices_we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our_1230205.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35b/wendell-berry-236_choices_we-are-destroying-our-country-i-mean-our_1230205.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“WE ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY - I mean our country itself, our land. This is a terrible thing to know, but…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Obviously, if Christianity is going to survive as more than a respecter and comforter of profitable inquiries, then Christians, regardless of their organizations, are going to have to interest themselves in economy-which is to say, in nature and in work. They are going to have to give workable answers to those who say we cannot live without this economy that is destroying us and our world, who see the murder of Creation as the only way of life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-survive-as-more-than-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/wendell-berry-236_answers_obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-su_1398088.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/wendell-berry-236_answers_obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-su_1398088.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/wendell-berry-236_answers_obviously-if-christianity-is-going-to-su_1398088.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Obviously, if Christianity is going to survive as more than a respecter and comforter of profitable…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are now, measurably, reducing the availability of these life-supporting goods which we can think of (though only on the conditions of good health and good care) as self-renewing or \"sustainable.\" We are also destroying rapidly the supplies of the fossil fuels, which are limited and not renewable, and on which we have become totally dependent.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-availability-of-these-life/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/wendell-berry-236_availability_we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-avail_2490061.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/wendell-berry-236_availability_we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-avail_2490061.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fab/wendell-berry-236_availability_we-are-now-measurably-reducing-the-avail_2490061.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are now, measurably, reducing the availability of these life-supporting goods which we can think of…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The wrecking ball is characteristic of our way with materials. We 'cannot afford' to log a forest selectively, to mine without destroying topography, or to farm without catastrophic soil erosion. A production-oriented economy can indeed live in this way, but only so long as production lasts.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-our-way-with-materials-we/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/wendell-berry-236_balls_the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-o_2706891.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/wendell-berry-236_balls_the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-o_2706891.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/wendell-berry-236_balls_the-wrecking-ball-is-characteristic-of-o_2706891.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The wrecking ball is characteristic of our way with materials. We 'cannot afford' to log a forest…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as family members, as community members, and as citizens. We have an 'environmental crisis' because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling, and enjoying ourselves we are destroying the natural, god-given world.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-surroundings-it-is-a-crisis-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/wendell-berry-236_citizens_it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-su_3223134.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/wendell-berry-236_citizens_it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-su_3223134.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/wendell-berry-236_citizens_it-is-not-a-crisis-of-our-environs-or-su_3223134.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“... it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/", "name": "Destroying Quotes by Wendell Berry", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/wendell-berry-236_burden_in-kentucky-we-re-destroying-mountains-i_887775.jpg" }, "description": "6 Destroying quotes by Wendell Berry. Plus more from Wendell Berry and more Destroying sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Destroying", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Wendell Berry", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroying/wendell-berry/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```