The substance of grief is not imaginary. It's as real as rope or the absence of air, and like both those things, it can kill.
Barbara KingsolverYou canโt replace people you love with other peopleโฆBut you can trust that youโre not going to run out of people to love.
Barbara KingsolverOne of the very first things I figured out about life...is that it's better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you're hopeful, you have more fun.
Barbara KingsolverYour own family resemblances are a frustrating code, most easily read by those who know you least.
Barbara KingsolverThere are always more questions. Science as a process is never complete. It is not a foot race, with a finish line.... People will always be waiting at a particular finish line: journalists with their cameras, impatient crowds eager to call the race, astounded to see the scientists approach, pass the mark, and keep running. It's a common misunderstanding, he said. They conclude there was no race. As long as we won't commit to knowing everything, the presumption is we know nothing.
Barbara KingsolverMost of the girls my age, or even younger, have babies. They appear way too young to be married, till you look in their eyes. Then you'll see it. Their eyes look happy and sad at the same time, but unexcited by anything, shifting easily off to the side as if they've already seen most of what there is. Married eyes.
Barbara Kingsolver