The toughness I was learning was not a martyred doggedness, a dumb heroism, but the art of accommodation. I thought: to be tough is to be fragile; to be tender is to be truly fierce.
Gretel EhrlichRead
Love life first, then march through the gates of each season; go inside nature and develop the discipline to stop destructive behavior; learn tenderness toward experience, then make decisions based on creating biological wealth that includes all people, animals, cultures, currencies, languages, and the living things as yet undiscovered; listen to the truth the land will tell you; act accordingly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embrace life fully and responsibly engage with the world around you.
In this quote, Gretel Ehrlich emphasizes the importance of loving life and being mindful of nature and our actions. By fostering tenderness and a sense of responsibility toward all living things, we can make informed decisions that enhance both the environment and our interconnected existence with others.
Themes
LoveNatureResponsibilityDisciplineTenderness
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about sustainability, you might say this quote to inspire awareness of our impact on the environment.
More from Gretel Ehrlich
All quotes →All through autumn we hear a double voice: one says everything is ripe; the other says everything is dying. The paradox is exquisite. We feel what the Japanese call "aware"--an almost untranslatable word meaning something like "beauty tinged with sadness.
Gretel EhrlichRead
Animals give us their constant, unjaded faces, and we burden them with our bodies and civilized ordeals.
Gretel EhrlichRead
Autumn teaches us that fruition is also death; that ripeness is a form of decay. The willows, having stood for so long near water, begin to rust. Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons.
Gretel EhrlichRead
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