Don't just live the length of your life - live the width of it as well.
Diane AckermanRead
Complexity excites the mind, and order rewards it. In the garden, one finds both, including vanishingly small orders too complex to spot, and orders so vast the mind struggles to embrace them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the interplay between complexity and order in our understanding of the world.
Diane Ackerman explores how the mind is stimulated by complexity while it finds satisfaction in order. In nature, such as in a garden, both elements coexist; we encounter intricate details that may elude us as well as grand designs that challenge our comprehension, reflecting the diverse ways in which we engage with life and knowledge.
Themes
ComplexityOrderMindNatureGarden
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on systemic thinking, one could use this quote to illustrate how complexity and simplicity are both necessary for understanding systems.
More from Diane Ackerman
All quotes →We try to exile ourselves more and more from nature - not always consciously: We build houses; we dismiss nature; nature has to be outside, because we're inside. God forbid something like a cockroach comes inside, or some dust.
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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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Because IQ tests favor memory skills and logic, overlooking artistic creativity, insight, resiliency, emotional reserves, sensory gifts, and life experience, they can't really predict success, let alone satisfaction.
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American writer_x000D_ _x000D_ 1803-1882_x000D_ _x000D_ Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
Diane AckermanRead
In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may unfold.
Diane AckermanRead
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