--- title: "9 Quiet Quotes By Wendell Berry" description: "9 Quiet quotes by Wendell Berry. Plus more from Wendell Berry and more Quiet sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/wendell-berry-236_darkness_after-a-while-though-the-grief-did-not-g_2362258.jpg" --- > [After a while, though the grief did not go away from us, it grew quiet. What had seemed a storm wailing through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/after-a-while-though-the-grief-did-not-go-away-from-us-it-grew-quiet/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/wendell-berry-236_darkness_after-a-while-though-the-grief-did-not-g_2362258.jpg) > [...And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/and-we-pray-not-for-new-earth-or-heaven-but-to-be-quiet-in-heart-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c3e/wendell-berry-236_clear_and-we-pray-not-for-new-earth-or-heaven_2812216.jpg) > [I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-stirring-becomes-quiet-around-2/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4dc/wendell-berry-236_circles_i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-st_2746145.jpg) > [“All I needed was to be alone and quiet and in the dark, so that my mind could concentrate itself of fearful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/all-i-needed-was-to-be-alone-and-quiet-and-in-the-dark-so-that-my/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/wendell-berry-236_psychology_all-i-needed-was-to-be-alone-and-quiet-a_3156185.jpg) > [Geese appear high over us, / pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, / as in love or sleep, holds them to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-sky-closes-abandon-as-in-love/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/wendell-berry-236_abandon_geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-s_3189711.jpg) > [Ask the world to reveal its quietude- not the silence of machines when they are still, but the true quiet by which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/ask-the-world-to-reveal-its-quietude-not-the-silence-of-machines-when/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/wendell-berry-236_asks_ask-the-world-to-reveal-its-quietude-not_2360123.jpg) > [I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-stirring-becomes-quiet-around/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/wendell-berry-236_cattle_i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-st_1571423.jpg) > [I dream of a quiet man / who explains nothing and defends nothing, but only knows / where the rarest wildflowers /…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-dream-of-a-quiet-man-who-explains-nothing-and-defends-nothing-but/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b25/wendell-berry-236_blooming_i-dream-of-a-quiet-man-who-explains-noth_2826491.jpg) > [The surface of the quieted river, as I think now, is like a window looking into another world that is like this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-think-now-is-like-a-window/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/wendell-berry-236_another-world_the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-th_1146235.jpg) ## Other authors on Quiet ## 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/quiet/wendell-berry/#itemlist", "name": "9 Quiet Quotes By Wendell Berry", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "After a while, though the grief did not go away from us, it grew quiet. 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Abandon, / as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear / in the ancient faith: what we need / is here. And we pray, not / for new earth or heaven, but to be / quiet in heart, and in eye, / clear. What we need is here.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-sky-closes-abandon-as-in-love/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/wendell-berry-236_abandon_geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-s_3189711.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/wendell-berry-236_abandon_geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-s_3189711.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/wendell-berry-236_abandon_geese-appear-high-over-us-pass-and-the-s_3189711.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Geese appear high over us, / pass, and the sky closes. 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All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle... Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it, And the fear of it leaves me. It sings, and I hear its song.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-stirring-becomes-quiet-around/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/wendell-berry-236_cattle_i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-st_1571423.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/wendell-berry-236_cattle_i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-st_1571423.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/wendell-berry-236_cattle_i-go-among-trees-and-sit-still-all-my-st_1571423.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I go among trees and sit still. 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Its quietness makes it seem perfect. The ripples are like the slates of a blind of a shutter through which we see imperfectly what is perfect. Though that other world can be seen only momentarily, it looks everlasting. As the ripples become more agitated, the window darkens and the other world is hidden.the surface of the river is like a living soul, which is easy to disturb, is often disturbed, but, growing calm, shows what it was, is, and will be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-think-now-is-like-a-window/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/wendell-berry-236_another-world_the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-th_1146235.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/wendell-berry-236_another-world_the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-th_1146235.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/789/wendell-berry-236_another-world_the-surface-of-the-quieted-river-as-i-th_1146235.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The surface of the quieted river, as I think now, is like a window looking into another world that is like…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quiet/wendell-berry/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quiet/wendell-berry/", "name": "Quiet Quotes by Wendell Berry", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quiet/wendell-berry/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/wendell-berry-236_darkness_after-a-while-though-the-grief-did-not-g_2362258.jpg" }, "description": "9 Quiet quotes by Wendell Berry. 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