168 Quotes by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Balance is not a passive resting place—it takes work, balancing the giving and the taking, the raking out and the putting in.

That, I think, is the power of ceremony. It marries the mundane to the sacred. The water turns to wine; the coffee to a prayer.

It is the fundamental unfairness of parenthood, that if we do our jobs well, the deepest bond we are given will walk out the door with a wave over the shoulder.

Both were women with feet planted deep in the earth, who took pride in a back strong enough to carry a load for others.

Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.

But the world is still unpredictable and still we survive by the grace of chance and the strength of our choices.

There are some aches witch hazel can’t assuage. For those, we need each other.

Philosophers call this state of isolation and disconnection “species loneliness”—a deep, unnamed sadness stemming from estrangement from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationship. As our human dominance of the world has grown, we have become more isolated, more lonely when we can no longer call out to our neighbors. It’s no wonder that naming was the first job the Creator gave Nanabozho.

Is the land a source of belongings, or a source of belonging?