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Robin Wall Kimmerer Quotes

Author

Robin Wall Kimmerer is an American author, ecologist, and indigenous plant scientist. Born in 1953, she is a member of the Hénan-Hénatsi tribe and an active advocate for environmental protection. Her work blends science, literature, and indigenous knowledge, exploring the relationship between humans and nature.

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All Nature Indigenous Honorable Harvest Life Science Gift Human Plants Capitalism Earth Gratitude Healing Indigenous Wisdom Land Reciprocity Restoration Despair Environmentalism Home Moss

Famous Robin Wall Kimmerer Quotes

“This is the fundamental nature of gifts: they move, and their value increases with their passage. The fields made a gift of berries to us and we made a gift of them to our father. The more something is shared, the greater its value becomes.”

Nature Value Gift

Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Source: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“Isn't this the purpose of education, to learn the nature of your own gifts and how to use them for good in the world?”

Nature Education Gift

Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Source: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“In a garden, food arises from partnership. If I don't pick rocks and pull weeds, I'm not fulfilling my end of the bargain. I can do these thing with my handy opposable thumb and capacity to use tools, to shovel manure. But I can no more create a tomato or embroider a trellis in beans than I can turn lead into gold. That is the plants' responsibility and their gift: animating the inanimate. Now there is a gift.”

Nature Garden Gift

Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Source: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“But I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.”

Culture Nature Gratitude Gift Reciprocity

Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Source: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“The practice of observing the living world and taking inspirations for human ways of living from its model is an essential element of indigenous science. It embraces the reality that there are intelligences other than our own, from whom we might learn.”

Science Nature Economy Gift Indigenous

Book:The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

Source: The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

About the Author

Born: 1953
Known for: Author
Quotes: 67

Books & Sources

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of PlantsRelated source material

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural WorldRelated source material

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of MossesRelated source material

Bud Finds Her GiftRelated source material

The Democracy of SpeciesRelated source material

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