Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I wonder that religion can live or die on the strength of a faint, stirring breeze. The scent trail shifts, causing the predator to miss the pounce. One god draws in the breath of life and rises; another god expires.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the fragility and impermanence of religion and belief systems.
Barbara Kingsolver's quote explores the idea that the existence and influence of religion can be as delicate and transient as a faint breeze. The metaphor suggests that religions rise and fall based on subtle and often unpredictable forces, akin to a predator missing its target due to a change in scent. In this sense, the quote invites reflection on the nature of faith and the external factors that can lead to its growth or decline.
Themes
ReligionFaithFragilityImpermanenceBeliefPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the changing nature of belief systems, one might use this quote to illustrate how vulnerable faith can be.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
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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.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
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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.
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