--- title: "23 Soil Quotes By Wendell Berry" description: "23 Soil quotes by Wendell Berry. Plus more from Wendell Berry and more Soil sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg" --- > [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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg) > [It's impossible to contemplate the life of soil very long without seeing its analogy to the life of the spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life-of-soil-very-long-without/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf0/wendell-berry-236_analogies_it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life_2842023.jpg) > [The soil under the grass is dreaming of a young forest, and under the pavement the soil is dreaming of grass.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of-a-young-forest-and-under-the/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/wendell-berry-236_dream_the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of_1853082.jpg) > [A Sustainable Agriculture does not deplete soils or people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deplete-soils-or-people/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/955/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deple_2467672.jpg) > [If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ... Given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is-also-full-of-life-worms/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/wendell-berry-236_all-kinds_if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is_2785133.jpg) > [That we should have an agriculture based as much on petroleum as the soil-that we need petroleum exactly as much as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based-as-much-on-petroleum-as-the/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a0/wendell-berry-236_absurd_that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based_1516330.jpg) > [When there are enough people on the land to use it but not enough to husband it, then the wildness of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land-to-use-it-but-not-enough-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9d/wendell-berry-236_diminish_when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land_689278.jpg) > [The damages of our present agriculture all come from the determination to use the life of the soil as if it were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-all-come-from-the/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-a_3121290.jpg) > [A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden-at-home-by-practices-that-2/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/945/wendell-berry-236_economy_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2906645.jpg) > [The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives-the-source-and-destination/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04e/wendell-berry-236_age_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives_2708608.jpg) > [The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, whose hands reach into the ground and sprout, to him the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man-born-to-farming-whose-hands/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40b/wendell-berry-236_born_the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man_2451083.jpg) > [To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. Old usage tells us that there…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-t_5364.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) > [If in the human economy, a squash in the field is worth more than a bushel of soil, that does not mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the-field-is-worth-more-than-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/wendell-berry-236_complexity_if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the_892799.jpg) > [Soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over millions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-heaps-of-magnificent-tonnage-it/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8e/wendell-berry-236_acres_soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-hea_2193599.jpg) > [Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land's inheritors, contribute to the welfare of society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-duties-as-stewards-of-creation/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/wendell-berry-236_acknowledge_good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-du_3051785.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) > [A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden-at-home-by-practices-that/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be6/wendell-berry-236_ability_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2551817.jpg) > [The Captains of Industry have always counseled the rest of us "to be realistic." Let us, therefore, be realistic. Is it realistic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-captains-of-industry-have-always-counseled-the-rest-of-us-to-be/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/wendell-berry-236_air_the-captains-of-industry-have-always-cou_223999.jpg) > [The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but-the-common-mode-of-existence/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d1/wendell-berry-236_air_the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but_2948514.jpg) > [“The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in its passivity and beneficence, and in the penetrating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the-topsoil-it-is-very-christ/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the_2385453.jpg) > [We do not need to plan or devise a "world of the future"; if we take care of the world of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world-of-the-future-if-we-take-2/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83b/wendell-berry-236_available_we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world_1904824.jpg) > [It is therefore absurd to approach the subject of health piecemeal with a departmentalized band of specialists. A medical doctor uninterested in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-subject-of-health-piecemeal/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f9/wendell-berry-236_absurd_it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-s_2852762.jpg) ## Other authors on Soil ## 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/soil/wendell-berry/#itemlist", "name": "23 Soil Quotes By Wendell Berry", "numberOfItems": 23, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-lives-the-source-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It's impossible to contemplate the life of soil very long without seeing its analogy to the life of the spirit.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life-of-soil-very-long-without/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf0/wendell-berry-236_analogies_it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life_2842023.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf0/wendell-berry-236_analogies_it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life_2842023.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf0/wendell-berry-236_analogies_it-s-impossible-to-contemplate-the-life_2842023.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's impossible to contemplate the life of soil very long without seeing its analogy to the life of the…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The soil under the grass is dreaming of a young forest, and under the pavement the soil is dreaming of grass.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of-a-young-forest-and-under-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/wendell-berry-236_dream_the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of_1853082.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/wendell-berry-236_dream_the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of_1853082.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/wendell-berry-236_dream_the-soil-under-the-grass-is-dreaming-of_1853082.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The soil under the grass is dreaming of a young forest, and under the pavement the soil is dreaming of grass.” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A Sustainable Agriculture does not deplete soils or people.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deplete-soils-or-people/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/955/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deple_2467672.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/955/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deple_2467672.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/955/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_a-sustainable-agriculture-does-not-deple_2467672.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A Sustainable Agriculture does not deplete soils or people.” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ... Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is-also-full-of-life-worms/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/wendell-berry-236_all-kinds_if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is_2785133.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/wendell-berry-236_all-kinds_if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is_2785133.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/wendell-berry-236_all-kinds_if-a-healthy-soil-is-full-of-death-it-is_2785133.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That we should have an agriculture based as much on petroleum as the soil-that we need petroleum exactly as much as we need food and must have it before we can eat-may seem absurd. It is absurd. It is nevertheless true.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based-as-much-on-petroleum-as-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a0/wendell-berry-236_absurd_that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based_1516330.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a0/wendell-berry-236_absurd_that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based_1516330.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a0/wendell-berry-236_absurd_that-we-should-have-an-agriculture-based_1516330.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That we should have an agriculture based as much on petroleum as the soil-that we need petroleum exactly as…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When there are enough people on the land to use it but not enough to husband it, then the wildness of the soil that we call fertility begins to diminish, and the soil itself begins to flee from us in water and wind.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land-to-use-it-but-not-enough-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9d/wendell-berry-236_diminish_when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land_689278.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9d/wendell-berry-236_diminish_when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land_689278.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9d/wendell-berry-236_diminish_when-there-are-enough-people-on-the-land_689278.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When there are enough people on the land to use it but not enough to husband it, then the wildness of the…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The damages of our present agriculture all come from the determination to use the life of the soil as if it were an extractable resource like coal.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-all-come-from-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-a_3121290.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-a_3121290.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-damages-of-our-present-agriculture-a_3121290.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The damages of our present agriculture all come from the determination to use the life of the soil as if it…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the soil, has his mind precisely against what is wrong with us.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden-at-home-by-practices-that-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/945/wendell-berry-236_economy_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2906645.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/945/wendell-berry-236_economy_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2906645.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/945/wendell-berry-236_economy_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2906645.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives-the-source-and-destination/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04e/wendell-berry-236_age_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives_2708608.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04e/wendell-berry-236_age_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives_2708608.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04e/wendell-berry-236_age_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-lives_2708608.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, whose hands reach into the ground and sprout, to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man-born-to-farming-whose-hands/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40b/wendell-berry-236_born_the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man_2451083.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40b/wendell-berry-236_born_the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man_2451083.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40b/wendell-berry-236_born_the-grower-of-trees-the-gardener-the-man_2451083.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming, whose hands reach into the ground and sprout, to…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. Old usage tells us that there is a husbandry also of the land, of the soil, of the domestic plants and animals. And so it appears that most and perhaps all of industrial agriculture's manifest failures are the result of an attempt to make the land produce without husbandry.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-to-save-to-make-last-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-t_5364.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-t_5364.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46c/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_to-husband-is-to-use-with-care-to-keep-t_5364.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. Old usage tells us that there…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "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": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If in the human economy, a squash in the field is worth more than a bushel of soil, that does not mean that food is more valuable than soil; it means simply that we do not know how to value the soil. In its complexity and its potential longevity, the soil exceeds our comprehension; we do not know how to place a just market value on it, and we will never learn how. Its value is inestimable; we must value it, beyond whatever price we put on it, by respecting it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the-field-is-worth-more-than-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/wendell-berry-236_complexity_if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the_892799.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/wendell-berry-236_complexity_if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the_892799.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89e/wendell-berry-236_complexity_if-in-the-human-economy-a-squash-in-the_892799.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If in the human economy, a squash in the field is worth more than a bushel of soil, that does not mean that…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over millions of acres by the careless acts of millions of people. It cannot be saved by heroic feats of gigantic technology, but only by millions of small acts and restraints, conditioned by small fidelities, skills, and desires. Soil loss is ultimately a cultural problem; it will be corrected only by cultural solutions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-heaps-of-magnificent-tonnage-it/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8e/wendell-berry-236_acres_soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-hea_2193599.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8e/wendell-berry-236_acres_soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-hea_2193599.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8e/wendell-berry-236_acres_soil-is-not-usually-lost-in-slabs-or-hea_2193599.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land's inheritors, contribute to the welfare of society in more ways than society usually acknowledges, or even knows. These farmers produce valuable goods, of course; but they also conserve soil, they conserve water, they conserve wildlife, they conserve open space, they conserve scenery.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-duties-as-stewards-of-creation/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/wendell-berry-236_acknowledge_good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-du_3051785.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/wendell-berry-236_acknowledge_good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-du_3051785.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/wendell-berry-236_acknowledge_good-farmers-who-take-seriously-their-du_3051785.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land's inheritors…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "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": 18, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the soil, has his mind precisely against what is wrong with us... What I am saying is that if we apply our minds directly and competently to the needs of the earth, then we will have begun to make fundamental and necessary changes in our minds. We will begin to understand and to mistrust and to change our wasteful economy, which markets not just the produce of earth, but also the earth's ability to produce.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden-at-home-by-practices-that/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be6/wendell-berry-236_ability_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2551817.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be6/wendell-berry-236_ability_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2551817.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be6/wendell-berry-236_ability_a-person-who-undertakes-to-grow-a-garden_2551817.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 19, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The Captains of Industry have always counseled the rest of us \"to be realistic.\" Let us, therefore, be realistic. Is it realistic to assume that the present economy would be just fine if only it would stop poisoning the air and water, or if only it would stop soil erosion, or if only it would stop degrading watersheds and forest ecosystems, or if only it would stop seducing children, or if only it would stop buying politicians, or if only it would give women and favored minorities an equitable share of the loot?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-captains-of-industry-have-always-counseled-the-rest-of-us-to-be/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/wendell-berry-236_air_the-captains-of-industry-have-always-cou_223999.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/wendell-berry-236_air_the-captains-of-industry-have-always-cou_223999.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/wendell-berry-236_air_the-captains-of-industry-have-always-cou_223999.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Captains of Industry have always counseled the rest of us \"to be realistic.\" Let us, therefore, be…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 20, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but-the-common-mode-of-existence/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d1/wendell-berry-236_air_the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but_2948514.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d1/wendell-berry-236_air_the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but_2948514.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d1/wendell-berry-236_air_the-miraculous-is-not-extraordinary-but_2948514.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 21, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in its passivity and beneficence, and in the penetrating energy that issues out of its peaceableness. It increases by experience, by the passage of seasons over it, growth rising out of it and returning to it, not by ambition or aggressiveness. It is enriched by all things that die and enter into it. It keeps the past, not as history or as memory, but as richness, new possibility. Its fertility is always building up out of death into promise. Death is the bridge or the tunnel by which its past enters its future.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the-topsoil-it-is-very-christ/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the_2385453.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the_2385453.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f1/wendell-berry-236_agriculture_the-most-exemplary-nature-is-that-of-the_2385453.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in its passivity and beneficence…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 22, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We do not need to plan or devise a \"world of the future\"; if we take care of the world of the present, the future will have received full justice from us. A good future is implicit in the soils, forests, grasslands, marshes, deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans that we have now, and in the good things of human culture that we have now; the only valid \"futurology\" available to us is to take care of those things. We have no need to contrive and dabble at \"the future of the human race\"; we have the same pressing need that we have always had - to love, care for, and teach our children.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world-of-the-future-if-we-take-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83b/wendell-berry-236_available_we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world_1904824.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83b/wendell-berry-236_available_we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world_1904824.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83b/wendell-berry-236_available_we-do-not-need-to-plan-or-devise-a-world_1904824.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We do not need to plan or devise a \"world of the future\"; if we take care of the world of the present, the…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 23, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is therefore absurd to approach the subject of health piecemeal with a departmentalized band of specialists. A medical doctor uninterested in nutrition, in agriculture, in the wholesomeness of mind and spirit is as absurd as a farmer who is uninterested in health. Our fragmentation of this subject cannot be our cure, because it is our disease. The body cannot be whole alone. Persons cannot be whole alone. It is wrong to think that bodily health is compatible with spiritual confusion or cultural disorder, or with polluted air and water or impoverished soil.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wendell Berry" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-subject-of-health-piecemeal/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f9/wendell-berry-236_absurd_it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-s_2852762.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f9/wendell-berry-236_absurd_it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-s_2852762.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f9/wendell-berry-236_absurd_it-is-therefore-absurd-to-approach-the-s_2852762.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is therefore absurd to approach the subject of health piecemeal with a departmentalized band of…” — Wendell Berry", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/wendell-berry/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/wendell-berry/", "name": "Soil Quotes by Wendell Berry", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/wendell-berry/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e94/wendell-berry-236_connectors_the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-l_24982.jpg" }, "description": "23 Soil quotes by Wendell Berry. 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