Diane Ackerman Quotes

129 quotes in 2186 categories

• We have vexed and bothered every plant and every animal on every continent. Animal
• Nature neither gives nor expects mercy. Expects
• Couples are jigsaw puzzles that hang together by touching in just enough points. They're never total fits or misfits. In time, a pair invents its… Anthem
• There is a way of beholding nature which is a form of prayer, a way of minding something with such clarity and aliveness that the… Aliveness
• Despite not knowing if what he felt from moment to moment would pass or last forever, he entered fully into his shifting states of violent… Ability
• Humans are the most successful invasives of all time. All
• Flying has changed how we imagine our planet, which we have seen whole from space, so that even the farthest nations are ecological neighbors. It… Afternoon
• There is that unique moment when one confronts something new and astonishment begins. Astonishment
• A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar. Its smell reminds us… Aflame
• A self is a frightening thing to waste, it's the lens through which one's whole life is viewed, and few people are willing to part… Art
• We live on the leash of our senses. There is no way in which to understand the world without first detecting it through the radar-net… Detecting
• Our relationship with nature has changed radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes… All
• There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools. Dressed
• We evolved as creatures knitted into the fabric of nature, and without its intimate truths, we can find ourselves unraveling. Creatures
• Love is the white light of emotion. Emotion
• We can't enchant the world, which makes its own magic; but we can enchant ourselves by paying deep attention Attention
• Don't just live the length of your life - live the width of it as well. Inspirational
• Much of life becomes background, but it is the province of art to throw buckets of light into the shadows and make life new again. Art
• Love is the most important thing in our lives, a passion for which we would fight or die, and yet we're reluctant to linger over… Die
• If a mind is just a few pounds of blood, urea, and electricity, how does it manage to contemplate itself, worry about its soul, do… Admire

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