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Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams Quotes

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Famous Terry Tempest Williams Quotes

“Storytelling awakens us to that which is real. Honest. . . . it transcends the individual. . . . Those things that are most personal are most general, and are, in turn, most trusted. Stories bind. . . . They are basic to who we are. A story composite personality which grows out of its community. It maintains a stability within that community, providing common knowledge as to how things are, how things should be -- knowledge based on experience. These stories become the conscience of the group. They belong to everyone.”

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Author:Terry Tempest Williams
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“We are contemporary citizens living in a technological world. Swimming in crosscultural waters can be dangerous, and if you are honest you can't stay there very long. Sooner or later you have to look at your own reflection and decide what to do with yourself. We are urban people. We make periodic pilgrimages to the country. . . . If we align ourselves with the spirit of place we will find humility fused with joy. The land holds stories.”

PeopleIfsWorldLooksLongCountryStoriesJoySpiritWaterLandHonestDangerousHumilityCitizensReflectionContemporarySwimmingSooner Or LaterUrbanTechnologicalPilgrimageSpirit Of Place
Book:Pieces of White Shell: A Journey to Navajoland
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“What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conondrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. Can we imagine, witness, and ultimately feel the suffering of another?”

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Author:Terry Tempest Williams
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“Today, I feel stronger, learning to live within the natural cycles of a day and to not expect too much of myself. As women, we hold the moon in our bellies. It is too much to ask to operate on full-moon energy three hundred and sixty-five days a year. I am in a crescent phase.”

FeelsYearsTodayThreeAsksEnergyNaturalFiveToo MuchMoonHundredStrongerCyclesSixtyPhasesBellyFull MoonCrescent
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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“I am slowly, painfully discovering that my refuge is not found in my mother, my grandmother, of even the birds of Bear River. My refuge exists in my capacity to love. If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change.”

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Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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“The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint, that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands.”

HandsMightEyeSpaceRoomsGracePrayingProtectMercySilentGentleWildernessLive ByLooking BackPausesRestraintDestinedHeartbeatKneeling
Book:Red: passion and patience in the desert
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“For far too long we have been seduced into walking a path that did not lead us to ourselves. For far too long we have said yes when we wanted to say no. And for far too long we have said no when we desperately wanted to say yes. . . . When we don't listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don't, others will abandon us.”

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Book:When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
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“We have to speak out now on behalf of our community and on behalf of the land and say they're the same thing and say No, we are not rolling over and No, this is not a corporate enterprise. This is democracy in the fullest sense and we must have regard and reverence and those are the cornerstones of a just society.”

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Author:Terry Tempest Williams
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“The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit-a living democracy?”

GivingMindFirstsHumansHeartEnoughWholeHomeAttentionOpinionDemocracyTrustListeningCitizensOffersGiving UpFellowsEmbraceDeterminedPursuitGenerousResolveCitizenshipHuman HeartEquitableFirst Home
Book:The Open Space of Democracy
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“We usually recognize a beginning. Endings are more difficult to detect. Most often, they are realized only after reflection. Silence. We are seldom conscious when silence begins—it is only afterward that we realize what we have been a part of. In the night journeys of Canada geese, it is the silence that propels them. Thomas Merton writes, “Silence is the strength of our interior life.… If we fill our lives with silence, then we will live in hope.”

IfsWritingHas BeensNightDifficultRealizingSilenceOur LivesJourneyReflectionConsciousCanadaInteriorsSilence IsGeese
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
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