Diane Ackerman Quotes
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Horses have made civilization possible.
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History is an agreed-upon fiction.
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There was nothing to do but wait. It is always like this for naturalists, and for poets--the long hours of travel and preparation, and then the longer hours of waiting. All for that one electric, pulse-revving vision when the universe suddenly declares itself.
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The brain is only three pounds of blood, dream, and electricity, and yet from that mortal stew come Beethoven's sonatas. Dizzie Gillespie's jazz. Audrey Hepburn's wish to spend the last month of her life in Somalia, saving children.
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Who would drink from a cup when they can drink from the source?
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For me, life offers so many complexly appealing moments that two beautiful objects may be equally beautiful for different reasons and at different times. How can one choose?
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All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.
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Happiness doesn't require laughter, only well-being and a sense that the world is breaking someone else's heart, not mine.
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We are defined by how we place our attention.
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On gardens: I think they're sanctuaries for the mind and spirit. ... It's easy to feel wonder-struck in a garden, especially if you cultivate delight.
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Which is crueler, an old man's lost memories of a life lived, or a young man's lost memories of the life he meant to live?
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Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret.
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Wonder is a bulky emotion. When you let it fill your heart and mind, there isn't room for anxiety, distress or anything else.
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A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically.
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Things that live by night live outside the realm of 'normal' time and so suggest living outside the realm of good and evil, since we have moralistic feelings about time. Chauvinistic about our human need to wake by day and sleep by night, we come to associate night dwellers with people up to no good at a time when they have the jump on the rest of us and are defying nature, defying their circadian rhythms.
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Of all the errands life seems to be running, of all the mysteries that enchant us, love is my favorite.
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As fleeting emotions stalk it, a face can leak fear or the guilt of a forming lie.
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One can live at a low flame. Most people do. For some, life is an exercise in moderation (best china saved for special occasions), but given something like death, what does it matter if one looks foolish now and then, or tries too hard, or cares too deeply?
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Libraries change lives. They are the soul of a people.
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We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as necessary physical and spiritual companions. Technological nature can't completely satisfy that yearning.
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One can live at a low flame. Most people do. For some, life is an exercise in moderation (best china saved for special occasions), but given something like death, what does it matter if one looks foolish now and then, or tries too hard, or cares too
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There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools.
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Above all, we ask the poet to teach us a way of seeing.