Quotessence
Home / Authors / Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingWorldCommunityIfsWritingBelieveFeelsHumansStoriesHeartI BelieveKnowsSpeakHomeLandWayPeopleBirdEarthLooks

Famous Terry Tempest Williams Quotes

“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

“The middle path makes me wary. . . . But in the middle of my life, I am coming to see the middle path as a walk with wisdom where conversations of complexity can be found, that the middle path is the path of movement. . . . In the right and left worlds, the stories are largely set. . . . We become missionaries for a position . . . practitioners of the missionary position. Variety is lost. Diversity is lost. Creativity is lost in our inability to make love with the world.”

WorldStoriesFoundLostLeftWalksCreativityPathMiddleMovementPositionConversationDiversityCompromiseVarietyComplexityMissionaryMaking LoveInabilityMiddle Path
Author:Terry Tempest Williams
Create image

“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.”

ShouldRealStoriesTurnsIndividualGrowsCommunityCommonGroupsHonestPersonalityConscienceStorytellingWho We AreStabilityTrustedProvidingCompositesCommon Knowledge
Author:Terry Tempest Williams
Create image

“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
Create image

“I have felt the pain that arises from a recognition of beauty, pain we hold when we remember what we are connected to and the delicacy of our relations. It is this tenderness born out of a connection to place that fuels my writing. Writing becomes an act of compassion toward life, the life we so often refuse to see because if we look too closely or feel too deeply, there may be no end to our suffering. But words empower us, move us beyond our suffering, and set us free. This is the sorcery of literature. We are healed by our stories.”

IfsFeelsWritingLooksMayEndsStoriesPainRememberMovingSufferingLiteratureFeltBornCompassionConnectionsRelationRefuseConnectedAriseRecognitionEmpoweringFuelTendernessHealedDelicacySorcery
Book:An Unspoken Hunger
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