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Quote by Barbara Kingsolver

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Flight Behavior

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Author

Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist known for her insightful social commentary and rich literary imagination. Her works often explore themes of environmental protection, social justice, and women's issues, and have gained widespread popularity. Born on April 8, 1955, in Arkansas, USA, Kingsolver grew up in Arkansas and Mexico, and later earned a BA in literature from Amherst College and an MA in comparative literature from Columbia University. more

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“This butterfly forest was a great breathing beast. Monarchs covered the trunks like orange fish scales. Sometimes the wings all moved slowly in unison. Once while she and Ovid were working in the middle of all that, he had asked her what was the use of saving a world that had no soul left in it. Continents without butterflies, seas without coral reefs, he meant. What if all human effort amounted basically to saving a place for ourselves to park? He had confessed these were not scientific thoughts.”

“The monarch butterfly is a cardiotonic. It increases the tone of the heart muscle, causing more effective emptying of the chambers. The butterfly will help Diego. It will be good for him." "Do we use monarchs, too- in the United States, I mean?" I asked desperately. "You take digitalis from the digitoxin found in plants. Mostly foxglove. I use a digitalis-like toxin found in the monarch butterflies. Both have the same properties. The monarch lays its eggs on the milkweed plant, which also produces cardioglycosides. As the insects hatch and grow, they feed on the milkweed and ingest the heart medicine from the plant. They sequester it in their bodies, never using it and never excreting it." "Why do they do that?" "To keep predators away. Digitalis has a bitter taste that keeps the birds away.”

“I can be happy or unhappy in all situations. I am sure of it, because I have been. I have felt distraught and joyful in situations of abundance as well as poverty, in situations of popularity and anonymity, in situations of success and failure. The difference was never based on the situation itself, but always on my state of mind and heart. When I knew I was walking with God, I always felt happy and at peace. When I was entangled in my own complaints and emotional needs, I always felt restless and divided.”