Diane Ackerman Quotes

129 quotes in 2186 categories

• All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories,…
• As a species, we've somehow survived large and small ice ages, genetic bottlenecks, plagues, world wars and all manner of natural disasters, but I sometimes…
• As people flock to urban centers where ground space is limited, cities with green walls and roofs and skyscraper farms offer improved health and well-being,…
• As the most social apes, we inhabit a mirror-world in which every important relationship, whether with spouse, friend or child, shapes the brain, which in…
• Because we can't escape our ancient hunger to live close to nature, we encircle the house with lawns and gardens, install picture windows, adopt pets…
• For better or worse, zoos are how most people come to know big or exotic animals. Few will ever see wild penguins sledding downhill to…
• In the winter, I enjoy cross-country skiing and raising orchids and amaryllises. If I could grow tropical flowers as perennials, I would, especially hibiscus and…
• On some summer days in New York City, the air hangs thickly visible, like the combined exhalations of eight million souls. Steam rising from vents…
• The further we distance ourselves from the spell of the present, explored by our senses, the harder it will be to understand and protect nature's…
• We try to exile ourselves more and more from nature - not always consciously: We build houses; we dismiss nature; nature has to be outside,…
• We're dabbling in eugenics all the time, breeding ideal crops to replace less aesthetic or nutritious or hardy varieties; leveling forests to graze cattle or…
• We're losing biodiversity globally at an alarming rate, and we need a cornucopia of different plants and animals, for the planet's health and our own.
• What a lonely species we are, searching for signals of life from other galaxies, adopting companion animals, visiting parks and zoos to commune with other…
• After all, coffee is bitter, a flavor from the forbidden and dangerous realm.
• Violets smell like burnt sugar cubes that have been dipped in lemon and velvet.
• Shaped a little like a loaf of French country bread, our brain is a crowded chemistry lab, bustling with nonstop neural conversations.Imagine the brain, that…
• In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute…
• Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in…
• The visual image is a kind of tripwire for the emotions.
• I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as…

Browse Diane Ackerman Quotes by Category