Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Awareness is everything. Hallie once pointed out to me that people worry a lot more about the eternity *after* their deaths than the eternity that happened before they were born. But it's the same amount of infinity, rolling out in all directions from where we stand.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of awareness of both our existence and the infinite nature of time before and after life.
Barbara Kingsolver's quote highlights the human tendency to focus more on what happens after death compared to the eternity that existed before our birth. By pointing out that both periods represent an equal infinity, Kingsolver encourages us to expand our awareness beyond just our own lives, prompting a deeper reflection on existence and the continuum of time. This awareness can lead to a richer understanding of our place in the universe and the interconnectedness of all life.
Themes
AwarenessInfinityExistenceLifeDeathPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of mindfulness and living in the present, you can use this quote to emphasize awareness.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes →Children can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Similar quotes
From joy people are born; for joy they live; in joy they melt at death. Death is an ecstasy, for it removes the burden of the body and frees the soul of all pain springing from body identification. It is the cessation of pain and sorrow.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
The stupider the peasant, the better the horse understands him.
Anton ChekhovRead
If this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?
Albert EinsteinRead
Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order for us to be tested, we must face challenges and difficulties. These can break us, and the surface of our souls may crack and crumble-that is, if our foundations of faith, our testimonies of truth are not deeply embedded within us.
Thomas S. MonsonRead
A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.
Iris MurdochRead
One of the earliest resurrection scenes in the Bible is that of Thomas demanding evidence - he wanted to see, to touch, to prove. Those who question and probe and debate are heirs of the apostles just as much as the most fervent of believers.
Jon MeachamRead