Quotessence
Home / Books / Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

Book by Terry Tempest Williams · 4 quotes · Bird, Mother, Believe

Filter quotes by topic

AllBirdMotherBelieveEndsHas BeensI BelieveIfsTeachWorldBeliefDoeEarthEnergyFeelsFoundGriefHeartI PrayIdeasIndividual

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place Quotes

“What is it about the relationship of a mother that can heal or hurt us? Her womb is the first landscape we inhabit. It is here we learn to respond - to move, to listen, to be nourished and grow. In her body we grow to be human as our tails disappear and our gills turn to lungs. Our maternal environment is perfectly safe - dark, warm, and wet. It is a residency inside the Feminine. When we outgrow our mother's body, our cramps become her own. We move. She labors. Our body turns upside down in hers as we journey through the birth canal. She pushes in pain. We emerge, a head. She pushes one more time, and we slide out like a fish. Slapped on the back by the doctor, we breath. The umbilical cord is cut - not at our request. Separation is immediate. A mother reclaims her body, for her own life. Not ours. Minutes old, our first death is our own birth.”

DeathMotherEvolutionBirthMotherhoodPregnancy
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Create image

“John Lilly suggests whales are a culture maintained by oral traditions. Stories. The experience of an individual whale is valuable to the survival of its community. I think of my family stories-Mother's in particular-how much I need them now, how much I will need them later. It has been said when an individual dies, whole worlds die with them. The same could be said of each passing whale.”

ThinkingWorldNeedsHas BeensSaidWholeStoriesMotherDiesCultureIndividualCommunityParticularSurvivalTraditionMy FamilyValuableWhole WorldPassingPassingsWhalesOral Tradition
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Create image

“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.”

IfsI CanMotherFoundBearsBirdCapacityRiversGrandmotherDiscoveringRefugeMy GrandmotherCapacity To LoveLove Death
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Create image

“I wonder how, among the Fremont, mothers and daughters shared their world. Did they walk side by side along the lake edge? What stories did they tell while weaving strips of bulrush into baskets? How did daughters bury their mothers and exercise their grief? What were the secret rituals of women? I feel certain they must have been tied to birds.”

WorldFeelsHas BeensStoriesMotherCertainSidesWalksGriefSecretWonderExerciseBirdDaughterEdgesLakesRitualTiedBasketsMother And DaughterWeaving
Book:Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Create image