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Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver Quotes

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Famous Barbara Kingsolver Quotes

“When the scope of the problem seems insuperable, isn't it time to call this one, give it up, and get on with life as we know it. I do know that answer to that one: that's called child abuse. When my teenager worries that her generation won't be able to fix this problem, I have to admit to her that it won't be up to her generation. It's up to mine. This is a now-or-never kind of project.”

KnowsGivingKindChildrenProblemSeemsAbleAnswersWorryGenerationsMinesProjectsAbuseClimate ChangeTeenagerChild AbuseScopeNow Or Never
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“Most people no longer believe that buying sneakers made in Asian sweatshops is a kindness to those child laborers. Farming is similar. In every country on earth, the most human scenario for farmers is likely to be feeding those who live nearby-if international markets would allow them to do it. Food transport has become a bizarre and profitable economic equation that's no longer really about feeding anyone ... If you care about farmers, let the potatoes stay home.”

PeopleIfsBelieveHumansChildrenMadeCountryHomeCareEarthAnimalKindnessEconomicMiracleInternationalBuyingFarmersVegetablesFeedingBizarreEquationsPotatoesAsianFarmingProfitableScenariosTransportLaborersSneakersIf You CareSweatshops
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“Respecting the dignity of a spectacular food means enjoying it at its best. Europeans celebrate the short season of abundant asparagus as a form of holiday. In the Netherlands the first cutting coincides with Father's Day, on which restaurants may feature all-asparagus menus and hand out neckties decorated with asparagus spears.”

FirstsMayMeanHandsFormFatherEnjoyAnimalCuttingDignitySeasonsMiracleCelebrateFeaturesRestaurantsHolidayVegetablesSpectacularSpearsMenusNetherlandsAsparagusNeckties
Book:Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating
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“What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, 'What life can I live that will let me breathe in & out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?”

KnowsWorldFactsEyeRunningAsksBornKnow HowHellFineAnd LoveLet MeWoodsBreatheDestination
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast.”

IfsNeedsMayCountryBigsEnergyNationsDifferencesMillionsWeekProduceBecomingHabitCitizensRaisedOilOur CountryMeatMealsJust OneBuyingDependentBreakfastConsumptionBarrelsGallonsSmall ChangesOil Consumption
Book:Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating
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“When I look out the window, I exhale a prayer of thanks for the color green, for my children's safety, for the simple acts of faith like planting a garden that helped see us through another spring, another summer. And I inhale some kind of promise to protect my kids' hopes and good intentions we began with in this country. Freedom of speech, the protection of diversity - these are the most important ingredients of American civil life and my own survival. If I ever took them for granted, I don't know.”

IfsKnowsLooksKindChildrenImportantCountryMotivationalKidsMy OwnPrayerSimpleColorPromiseProtectSpeechDiversitySummerSurvivalSpringGardenWindowSafetyGreenIntentionProtectionThanksGrantedMy ChildrenIngredientsFreedom Of SpeechSeptemberGood IntentionsSeptember 11InhaleSeptember 11 2001Planting A Garden
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“With all due respect for the wondrous ways people have invented to amuse themselves and one another on paved surfaces, I find that this exodus from the land makes me unspeakably sad. I think of the children who will never know, intuitively, that a flower is a plant's way of making love, or what silence sounds like, or that trees breathe out what we breathe in.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWayChildrenSoundNatureSilenceTreeLandFlowerPlantDuesSurfaceBreatheMaking LoveWondrousExodus
Book:Small Wonder
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“Gilbert has established herself as a straight-up storyteller who dares us into adventures of worldly discovery, and this novel stands as a winning next act. “The Signature of All Things” is a bracing homage to the many natures of genius and the inevitable progress of ideas, in a world that reveals its best truths to the uncommonly patient minds.”

WorldMindIdeasTruthNextWinningNovelProgressAdventureGeniusDiscoveryAll ThingsPatientDareInevitableStorytellerWorldlySignaturesHomageStraight Up
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“Mom is losing, no doubt, because our vegetables have come to lack two features of interest: nutrition and flavor. Storage and transport take predictable tolls on the volatile plant compounds that subtly add up to taste and food value. Breeding to increase shelf life also has tended to decrease palatability. Bizarre as it seems, we've accepted a tradeoff that amounts to: "Give me every vegetable in every season, even if it tastes like a cardboard picture of its former self."”

IfsGivingTwoSelfSeemsValuesInterestDoubtMomAmountTasteLosingSeasonsGive MeIncreaseAddPlantAcceptedFormerFeaturesNo DoubtVegetablesNutritionShelvesBizarreFlavorPredictableTransportCompoundsBreedingDecreaseTollsStorageShelf Life
Book:Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating
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“The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage. We have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules, and those who said, 'We already did. We have made the world new.' The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on.”

PeopleWorldHumansMadeSaidHardDoneFightingVisionImaginePossibilityTerribleUniversalSlaveryHardestGrantedConvinceArcsHard ThingsSuffrageUniversal Suffrage
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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“Tomorrow these villagers would carry their secret icons into the church without any priest and light the candles themselves, moving together in single-minded grace. Like the school of the fish, so driven to righteousness they could flout the law, declare the safety of their souls, then go home and destroy the evidence.”

SoulHomeLightSchoolTogetherMovingLawChurchSecretGraceTomorrowEvidenceSafetyFishesDrivenPriestsRighteousnessCandleIcons
Book:The Lacuna
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“In exchange for his first taste of powdered milk, Pascal showed me a tree we could climb to find a bird's nest. After we handled and examined the pink-skinned baby birds, he popped one of them into his mouth like a jujube. It seemed to please him a lot. He offered a baby bird to me, pantomiming that I should eat it. I understood perfectly well what he meant, but I refused. He did not seem disappointed to have to eat the whole brood himself.”

ShouldFirstsWellsWholeSeemsTreeBabyPleaseTasteBirdMouthsUnderstoodClimbsDisappointedMilkNestsPascal
Author:Barbara Kingsolver
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