Diane Ackerman quotes: top famous quotes and sayings by Diane Ackerman

Top Diane Ackerman Quotes

Browse top 100 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by Diane Ackerman.

Favorite Diane Ackerman Quotes

1. "Alligators have beautiful undulating skin, which feels dense, spongy, solid, like the best eraser." ~ Diane Ackerman

2. "When I set a glass prism on a windowsill and allow the sun to flood through it, a spectrum of colors dances on the floor. What we call "white" is a rainbow of colored rays packed into a small space. The prism sets them free. Love is the white light of emotion." ~ Diane Ackerman

3. "I may enter a zone of transcendence, in which I marvel at all the accidents of fate, since the beginning of life on earth, that led to my genes being created and my standing in this particular garden in a contemplative and imagining mind. I've been reading recently how reflection evolved. what a fascinating solution to the rigors of survival…how amazing that a few basic ingredients- the same ones that form the mountains, plants, and rivers- when arranged differently and stressed could result in us.More and more of late, I find myself standing outside of life, with a sense of the human saga laid out before me. it is a private vision, balanced between youth and old age, a vision in which I understand how caught up in striving we humans get, and a little of why, and how difficult it is even to recognize, since it feels integral to our nature and is. but I find it interesting that, according to many religions, life and begins and ends in a garden." ~ Diane Ackerman

4. "We can't enchant the world, which makes its own magic; but we can enchant ourselves by paying deep attention" ~ Diane Ackerman

5. "Out of the blue, Paul reported feeling bouts of calm euphoria, a mystical sense of all's-right-with-his-life-and-the-universe, a bright future in sight. ... I knew well the state of vigorous calm he meant, a frequent visitor throughout my own life. [p. 290]" ~ Diane Ackerman

6. "I will not dishonormy soul with hatred,but offer myself humblyas a guardian of nature,as a healer of misery,as a messenger of wonder,as an architect of peace.I will honor all life—wherever and in whatever formit may dwell—on Earth my home,and in the mansions of the stars." ~ Diane Ackerman

7. "The idea of safety had shrunk into particles - one snug moment, then the next. Meanwhile, the brain piped fugues of worry and staged mind-theaters full of tragedies and triumphs, because unfortunately, the fear of death does wonders to focus the mind, inspire creativity, and heightens the senses. Trusting one's hunches only seems gamble if one has time for seem; otherwise the brain goes on autopilot and trades the elite craft of analysis for the best rapid insights that float up from its danger files and ancient bag of tricks." ~ Diane Ackerman

8. "Insight roams the sea of the unconscious like the Loch Ness monster, a rumor whose wake occasionally becomes visible, but even then it's mystifying and scarcely believed." ~ Diane Ackerman

9. "It's like having a head full of holes, in which the perfect repository of words have shamed themselves," he lamented." ~ Diane Ackerman

10. "...as zookeepers, the Zabinskis understood both vigilance and predators; in a swamp of vipers, one planned every footstep. Shaped by the gravity of wartime, it wasn't always clear who or what could be considered outside or inside, loyal or turncoat, predator or prey." ~ Diane Ackerman

11. "Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world." ~ Diane Ackerman

12. "Of all the errands life seems to be running, of all the mysteries that enchant us, love is my favorite" ~ Diane Ackerman

13. "We would lie on coral sand, below sugary stars, watching Cassiopeia mount her throne and the Great Bear wash its paws in the South. I would say, "I have a secret to tell you." And, folding me in your arms, boyish and sly, you would answer: "Whisper it into my mouth. " ~ Diane Ackerman

14. "Symbolic of life, hair bolts from our head[s]. Like the earth, it can be harvested, but it will rise again. We can change its color and texture when the mood strikes us, but in time it will return to its original form, just as Nature will in time turn our precisely laid-out cities into a weed-way." ~ Diane Ackerman

15. "I watched her face switch among the radio stations of memory" ~ Diane Ackerman

16. "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?" ~ Diane Ackerman

17. "And yet, words are the passkeys to our souls. Without them, we can't really share the enormity of our lives." ~ Diane Ackerman

18. "...for most people in the [Jewish] Ghetto [of Warsaw] nature lived only in memory -- no parks, birds, or greenery existed in the Ghetto -- and they suffered the loss of nature like a phantom-limb pain, an amputation that scrambled the body's rhythms, starved the senses, and made basic ideas about the world impossible for children to fathom." ~ Diane Ackerman

19. "One morning as I closed the cyclone-fence gate / to begin a slow drift / down to the cookhouse on foot / (because my truck wheels were glued / in deep mud once again), / I walked straight into / the waiting non-arms of a snake, / its tan beaded-bag skin / studded with black diamonds.Up it coiled to speak to me a eye level. / Imagine! that sleek finger / rising out of the land's palm / and coiling faster than a Hindu rope. / The thrill of a bull snake / startled in the morning / when the mesas lie pooled / in a custard of light / kept me bright than ball lightning all day.Praise leapt first to mind / before flight or danger, / praise that knows no half-truth, and pardons all." ~ Diane Ackerman

20. "A good strategy should dictate the right actions. Any action mustn't be impulsive, but analyzed along with all its possible outcomes. A solid plan always includes many backups and alternatives." ~ Diane Ackerman

21. "Love is the great intangible. In our nightmares, we can create beasts out of pure emotion. Hate stalks the streets with dripping fangs, fear flies down narrow alleyways on leather wings, and jealousy spins sticky webs across the sky. In daydreams, we can maneuver with poise, foiling an opponent, scoring high on fields of glory while crowds cheer, cutting fast to the heart of an adventure. But what dream state is love? Frantic and serene, vigilant and calm, wrung-out and fortified, explosive and sedate –love commands a vast army of moods. Hoping for victory, limping from the latest skirmish, lovers enter the arena once again. Sitting still, we are as daring as gladiators." ~ Diane Ackerman

22. "Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky actually begins at the earth. We walk through it, yell into it, rake leaves, wash the dog, and drive cars in it. We breathe it deep within us. With every breath, we inhale millions of molecules of sky, heat them briefly, and then exhale them back into the world." ~ Diane Ackerman

23. "Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? ...We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors. Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves." ~ Diane Ackerman

24. "Artificial intelligence is growing up fast, as are robots whose facial expressions can elicit empathy and make your mirror neurons quiver." ~ Diane Ackerman

25. "I consider fiction a very high-class form of lying. I enjoy and admire it enormously, but I don't think I'm very good at it." ~ Diane Ackerman

26. "Living with anyone for many years takes skill. To keep peace in the household, couples learn to adapt to one another, hopefully in positive ways." ~ Diane Ackerman

27. "As people flock to urban centers where ground space is limited, cities with green walls and roofs and skyscraper farms offer improved health and well-being, renewable resources, reliable food supply, and relief to the environment." ~ Diane Ackerman

28. "Couples are jigsaw puzzles that hang together by touching in just enough points. They're never total fits or misfits. ... We marry children who have grown up and still rejoice in being children .... [p. 15]" ~ Diane Ackerman

29. "Metaphor isn't just decorative language. If it were, it wouldn't scare us so much. . . . Colorful language threatens some people, who associate it, I think, with a kind of eroticism (playing with language in public = playing with yourself), and with extra expense (having to sense or feel more). I don't share that opinion. Why reduce life to a monotone? Is that truer to the experience of being alive? I don't think so. It robs us of life's many textures. Language provides an abundance of words to keep us company on our travels. But we're losing words at a reckless pace, the national vocabulary is shrinking. Most Americans use only several hundred words or so. Frugality has its place, but not in the larder of language. We rely on words to help us detail how we feel, what we once felt, what we can feel. When the blood drains out of language, one's experience of life weakens and grows pale. It's not simply a dumbing down, but a numbing." ~ Diane Ackerman

30. "Devising a vocabulary for gardening is like devising a vocabulary for sex. There are the correct Latin names, but most people invent euphemisms. Those who refer to plants by Latin name are considered more expert, if a little pedantic." ~ Diane Ackerman

31. "Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains." ~ Diane Ackerman

32. "I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." ~ Diane Ackerman

33. "A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically." ~ Diane Ackerman

34. "Hurricane season brings a humbling reminder that, despite our technologies, most of nature remains unpredictable." ~ Diane Ackerman

35. "I'm certainly not opposed to digital technology, whose graces I daily enjoy and rely on in so many ways. But I worry about our virtual blinders." ~ Diane Ackerman

36. "Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret." ~ Diane Ackerman

37. "Listen, I'd rather lie naked in a plowed field under an incontinent horse for a week than have to read that paragraph again!" ~ Diane Ackerman

38. "I'd suffered many losses in recent years after my father mother uncle aunt and cousin had all passed away. In her final years my mother often lamented that there was no one alive who had known her as a girl and I was starting to understand how spooked she'd felt. I wasn't sure I could take any more abandonments. One succumbs so easily to mind spasms, worry spasms. [p. 95]" ~ Diane Ackerman

39. "As fleeting emotions stalk it, a face can leak fear or the guilt of a forming lie." ~ Diane Ackerman

40. "I believe consciousness is brazenly physical, a raucous mirage the brain creates to help us survive. But I also sense the universe is magical, greater than the sum of its parts, which I don't attribute to a governing god, but simply to the surprising, ecstatic, frightening everyday reality we all know. Ultimately, I find consciousness a fascinating predicament for matter to get into." ~ Diane Ackerman

41. "I was moving in a narrow range between busy distractedness and a pervasive sadness whose granules seemed to enter each cell, weighing it down, one grain per cell, just enough in sum that I walked with head lowered, shoulders rolled into a slump, feet shuffling . . . . I ghosted between islands of anxiety . . . and a fatigue that dulled my zest, decanted it. Sorrow felt like a marble coat I couldn't shed. [pp. 152-153]" ~ Diane Ackerman

42. "Caregiving offers many fringe benefits, including the sheer sensory delight of nourishing and grooming, sharing, and playing. But caregiving does buttonhole you; you're stitched in one place. . . . Paul wasn't on a learning curve but seemed trapped in a circle. He's swoop forward only to loop back again and fall to earth." ~ Diane Ackerman

43. "Writing, which is my form of celebration and prayer, is also my form of inquiry." ~ Diane Ackerman

44. "I do feel responsible. He used to be able to look after himself. Now he can't. That's so different, so strange. The big question is: Is more improvement really possible, or should I stop pushing him?' [p. 153]" ~ Diane Ackerman

45. "I understood the therapists were trying to rebuild Paul's vocabulary, beginning wit the rudiments, but Paul found it taxing, boring, and disturbingly condescending. His loss of language didn't mean he was any less a grown-up with adult feelings, experiences, worries, and problems. [p. 144]" ~ Diane Ackerman

46. "Antonina felt convinced that people needed to connect more with their animal nature, but also that animals long for human company, reach out for human attention." ~ Diane Ackerman

47. "Every day our life was full of thoughts of the horrible present, and even our own death." ~ Diane Ackerman

48. "The Germans have removed, murdered or burned alive tens of thousands of Jews. Out of the three million Polsih Jews, no more than 10 percent remain." ~ Diane Ackerman

49. "In the early years of the Uprising, we survived on one meal a day of horse meat and soup, but by the end we ate only dried peas, dogs, cats and birds." ~ Diane Ackerman

50. "In the rain forest, no niche lies unused. No emptiness goes unfilled. No gasp of sunlight goes untrapped. In a million vest pockets, a million life-forms quietly tick. No other place on earth feels so lush. Sometimes we picture it as an echo of the original Garden of Eden—a realm ancient, serene, and fertile, where pythons slither and jaguars lope. But it is mainly a world of cunning and savage trees. Truant plants will not survive. The meek inherit nothing. Light is a thick yellow vitamin they would kill for, and they do. One of the first truths one learns in the rain forest is that there is nothing fainthearted or wimpy about plants." ~ Diane Ackerman

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I don't want to describe either Governor Mitt Romney or the Republicans as stupid, but I will say this - if you look at their platform, the 2012 platform, it looks like it's from another century and maybe even two. It looks like the platform of 1812."
Author: Antonio Villaraigosa

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