Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Terry Tempest Williams

Quote by Terry Tempest Williams

“I remember a phone call from a friend of mine who lives along the MacKenzie River. She said, "This is the first year in twenty that the chinook salmon have not returned." This woman knows the names of things. This woman is committed to a place. And she sounded the alarm.”

Quote by Terry Tempest Williams

Create image

Author

Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams is an American author known for her profound insights into the relationship between humans and nature. Her works often explore themes such as environmental protection, feminism, and identity. more

You May Also Like

“I think community is a shared history, it's a shared experience. It's not always agreement. In fact, I think that often it isn't. It's the commitment, again, to stay with something - to go the duration. You can't walk away. It's like a marriage, only I think it's more difficult to divorce yourself from community than it is to a human being because the strands are interconnected and so various.”

ThinkingHumansFactsDifficultCommunityHuman BeingsWalksCommitmentVariousDivorceAgreementDurationStrandsInterconnectedShared Experiences
Author:Terry Tempest Williams
Create image

“Having lived in Utah all of my life, I can tell that in many ways I know of no place more lonely, no place more unfamiliar. When I talk about how it is both a blessing and a burden to have those kinds of roots, it can be terribly isolating, because when you are so familiar, you know the shadow.”

KnowsWayKindI CanBlessingShadowRootsLonelyBurdenFamiliarUnfamiliarUtah
Book:A voice in the wilderness: conversations with Terry Tempest Williams
Create image

“When Pico [Iyer] talks about home being a place of isolation, I think he's right. But it's the paradox. I think that's why I so love Great Salt Lake. Every day when I look out at that lake, I think, "Ah, paradox" - a body of water than no one can drink. It's the liquid lie of the desert. But I think we have those paradoxes within us and certainly the whole idea of home is windswept with paradox.”

ThinkingLooksIdeasWholeHomeBodyLyingWaterDrinkDesertIsolationLakesParadoxSaltLiquidBodies Of Water
Author:Terry Tempest Williams
Create image

“Downwinders, meaning those people, individuals, communities that were downwind of the nuclear test site. During those years when we were testing atomic bombs above ground, when we watched them for entertainment from the roofs of our high schools, little did we know what was raining down on us, little did we know what would appear years later.”

PeopleKnowsYearsLittlesSchoolIndividualCommunityHigh SchoolRainTestsEntertainmentNuclearBombsRoofSiteTestingAtomic Bomb
Book:A voice in the wilderness: conversations with Terry Tempest Williams
Create image