84 Quotes & Sayings By Terry Tempest Williams

This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. Terry Tempest Williams

I do not write every day. I write to the questions and issues before me. I write to deadlines. I write out of my passions. And I write to make peace with my own contradictory nature. For me, writing is a spiritual practice. A small bowl of water sits on my desk, a reminder that even if nothing is happening on the page, something is happening in the room--evaporation. And I always light a candle when I begin to write, a reminder that I have now entered another realm, call it the realm of the Spirit. I am mindful that when one writes, one leaves this world and enters another. My books are collages made from journals, research, and personal experience. I love the images rendered in journal entries, the immediacy that is captured on the page, the handwritten notes. I love the depth of ideas and perspective that research brings to a story, be it biological or anthropological studies or the insights brought to the page by the scholarly work of art historians. When I go into a library, I feel like I am a sleuth looking to solve a mystery. I am completely inspired by the pursuit of knowledge through various references. I read newpapers voraciously. I love what newspapers say about contemporary culture. And then you go back to your own perceptions, your own words, and weigh them against all you have brought together. I am interested in the kaleidoscope of ideas, how you bring many strands of thought into a book and weave them together as one piece of coherent fabric, while at the same time trying to create beautiful language in the service of the story. This is the blood work of the writer. Writing is also about a life engaged. And so, for me, community work, working in the schools or with grassroots conservation organizations is another critical component of my life as a writer. I cannot separate the writing life from a spiritual life, from a life as a teacher or activist or my life intertwined with family and the responsibilities we carry within our own homes. Writing is daring to feel what nurtures and breaks our hearts. Bearing witness is its own form of advocacy. It is a dance with pain and beauty. . Terry Tempest Williams

Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated. Terry Tempest Williams

The nature of living and loving is the act of reciprocity. As women, we are told that to be the guest is to receive. We are told that to be the host is to give. But what if it is the reverse? What if it is the guest who gives to the host and it is the host who receives from the guest each time she sets her table to welcome and feed those she loves? To be the guest and the host simultaneously is to imagine a mutual exchange of gifts predicated on respect and joy. If we could adopt this truth, perhaps we as women would be less likely to become martyrs. Terry Tempest Williams

I wonder how it is we have come to this place in our society where art and nature are spoke in terms of what is optional, the pastime and concern of the elite? Terry Tempest Williams

Story is the umbilical cord that connects us to the past, present, and future. Family. Story is a relationship between the teller and the listener, a responsibility.. .. Story is an affirmation of our ties to one another. Terry Tempest Williams

What other species now require of us is our attention. Otherwise, we are entering a narrative of disappearing intelligences. Terry Tempest Williams

How we treat our land, how we build upon it, how we act toward our air and water, in the long run, will tell what kind of people we really are.- Laurance S. Rockefeller Terry Tempest Williams

Artifacts are alive. Each has a voice. They remind us what it means to be human - that it is our nature to survive, to create works of beauty to be resourceful, to be attentive to the world we live in. Terry Tempest Williams

The mind creates those things that exist. Terry Tempest Williams

We come into this world through women: a woman who is spent, broken open, in awe. No wonder women have been worshiped ever since men first saw the crowning of a head, here, legs spread, a brushstroke of light. We are fire. We are water. We are earth. We are air. We are all things elemental. The world begins with "Yes, "Changing women: we begin again like the moon. We can no longer deny the destiny that is ours by becoming women who wait: waiting to love, waiting to speak, waiting to act. This is not patience, but pathology. We are sensual, sexual beings, intrinsically bound to both heaven and earth, our bodies a hologram. In our withholding of power, we abrogate power, and that creates war. The Australian poet Judith Wright says, "Our dream was the wrong dream, our strength was the wrong strength. Wounded, we cross the desert's emptiness and must be false to what would make us whole. Terry Tempest Williams

When it comes to words, rather than using our own voice, authentic and unpracticed, we steal someone else's to shield our fear. Terry Tempest Williams

It is not possible to satisfy women, " a friend said. "We are disturbed if we have children too young. Disturbed if we have then later. Disturbed if we don't have children at all. Terry Tempest Williams

There are two important days in a woman's life: the day she is born and the day she finds out why. Terry Tempest Williams

Women piece together their lives from the scraps left over for them. Terry Tempest Williams

Words are much stronger than I am. Terry Tempest Williams

The middle path makes me wary. But in the middle of my life, I am coming to see the middle path as a walk with wisdom where conversations of complexity can be found, that the middle path is the path of movement. In the right and left worlds, the stories are largely set. We become missionaries for a position. . practitioners of the missionary position. Variety is lost. Diversity is lost. Creativity is lost in our inability to make love with the world. Terry Tempest Williams

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. Terry Tempest Williams

The danger is in what we codify, commodify, and exploit. Terry Tempest Williams

My mother's journals are a shadow play with mine. I am a woman wedded to words. Words cast a shadow. Without a shadow there is no depth. Without a shadow there is no substance. If we have no shadow, it means we are invisible. As long as I have a shadow, I am alive. Terry Tempest Williams

To be read. To be heard. To be seen. I want to be read, I want to be heard. I don't need to be seen. To write requires an ego, a belief that what you say matters. Writing also requires an aching curiosity leading you to discover, uncover, what is gnawing at your bones. Words have a weight to them. How you choose to present them and to whom is a matter of style and choice. Terry Tempest Williams

To withhold words is power. But to share our words with others, openly and honestly, is also power. Terry Tempest Williams

I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen. Terry Tempest Williams

There is comfort in keeping what is sacred inside us not as a secret, but as a prayer. Terry Tempest Williams

Most of all, differences of opinion are opportunities for learning. Terry Tempest Williams

A shadow is never created in darkness. It is born of light. We can be blind to it and blinded by it. Our shadow asks us to look at what we don't want to see. If we refuse to face our shadow, it will project itself on someone else so we have no choice but to engage. Terry Tempest Williams

A shadow is never created in darkness. It is born of light. We can be blind to it and blinded by it. Our shadow asks us to look at what we don’t want to see Terry Tempest Williams

We are wearing coats of trust. When one tells a story this is what happens. Terry Tempest Williams

Grief dares us to love once more. Terry Tempest Williams

The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint, that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands. Terry Tempest Williams

When I said, “I am my mother, but I’m not, ” I was saying my path would be my own. Terry Tempest Williams

Buddha says there are two kinds of suffering: the kind that leads to more suffering and the kind that brings an end to suffering. Terry Tempest Williams

I have found what I need most to heal a broken bond is time together–the very thing I avoid is the thing most desired. Terry Tempest Williams

Storytelling awakens us to that which is real. Honest. it transcends the individual. . Those things that are most personal are most general, and are, in turn, most trusted. Stories bind. . They are basic to who we are. A story composite personality which grows out of its community. It maintains a stability within that community, providing common knowledge as to how things are, how things should be -- knowledge based on experience. These stories become the conscience of the group. They belong to everyone. . Terry Tempest Williams

Silence introduced in a society that worships noise is like the Moon exposing the night. Behind darkness is our fear. Within silence our voice dwells. What is required from both is that we be still. We focus. We listen. We see and we hear. The unexpected emerges. Terry Tempest Williams

When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship. Terry Tempest Williams

The unexpected action of deep listening can create a space of transformation capable of shattering complacency and despair. Terry Tempest Williams

To write, ” Marguerite Duras remarked, “is also not to speak. It is to keep silent. It is to howl noiselessly. Terry Tempest Williams

There is an art to writing, and it is not always disclosure. The act itself can be beautiful, revelatory, and private. Terry Tempest Williams

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman with secrets. When we don’t listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don’t, others will abandon us. Terry Tempest Williams

What is it about the relationship of a mother that can heal or hurt us? Her womb is the first landscape we inhabit. It is here we learn to respond - to move, to listen, to be nourished and grow. In her body we grow to be human as our tails disappear and our gills turn to lungs. Our maternal environment is perfectly safe - dark, warm, and wet. It is a residency inside the Feminine. When we outgrow our mother's body, our cramps become her own. We move. She labors. Our body turns upside down in hers as we journey through the birth canal. She pushes in pain. We emerge, a head. She pushes one more time, and we slide out like a fish. Slapped on the back by the doctor, we breath. The umbilical cord is cut - not at our request. Separation is immediate. A mother reclaims her body, for her own life. Not ours. Minutes old, our first death is our own birth. Terry Tempest Williams

What is evolution if not creative adaptation and the progression of our own souls? Terry Tempest Williams

Choosing with integrity means finding ways to speak up that honor your reality, the reality of others, and your willingness to meet in the center of that large field. It’s hard sometimes. Terry Tempest Williams

Respect is primary. Terry Tempest Williams

Her body was rounded like earth. Stories. Breath.. .. Her eyes have been painted closed. I understand. To tell a story you must travel inward. Terry Tempest Williams

We are contemporary citizens living in a technological world. Swimming in crosscultural waters can be dangerous, and if you are honest you can't stay there very long. Sooner or later you have to look at your own reflection and decide what to do with yourself. We are urban people. We make periodic pilgrimages to the country. If we align ourselves with the spirit of place we will find humility fused with joy. The land holds stories. Terry Tempest Williams

Listening over and over to the voices through a family of instruments allowed us to recognize and appreciate the dignity and uniqueness of each living thing in the meadow and forest. Terry Tempest Williams

If so, then it was also here where I came to know I can survive what hurts. I believed in my capacity to stand back up and run into the waves again and again, no matter the risk. Terry Tempest Williams

Here is the world. It is not a safe place, but however frightening and bewildering life may become, we can survive our fears, grab them by the wolf ’s tail as Peter did, and make peace with the world. Terry Tempest Williams

Agitation gives birth to creation. Terry Tempest Williams

The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up--ever--trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in our determined pursuit of a living democracy? . Terry Tempest Williams

But harboring regrets is making love to the past, and there is no movement here. Terry Tempest Williams

Did I have the courage to forge a path Terry Tempest Williams

We mask our needs as the needs of others. Terry Tempest Williams

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES when we go against our instincts? What are the consequences of not speaking out? What are the consequences of guilt, shame, and doubt? Terry Tempest Williams

Today, I feel stronger, learning to live within the natural cycles of a day and to not expect too much of myself. As women, we hold the moon in our bellies. It is too much to ask to operate on full-moon energy three hundred and sixty-five days a year. I am in a crescent phase. Terry Tempest Williams

Beauty is transformed over time, and not without destruction. Terry Tempest Williams

I believe we must do things in our lives for the right reasons, because we enjoy doing them, with no expectation of getting something back in return. Otherwise, we are constantly being disappointed." She moved her turquoise bracelet back and forth on her wrist. "So I had two sons, John and Richard, because I wanted to, not because I thought they would rescue me in old age. I got out of all social organizations and clubs in my fifties so I could spend time with my grandchildren, not because they would give something back to Jack and me later on, but because that was what I wanted to do--and I have loved doing it. Believe me, these have been selfish decisions. Terry Tempest Williams

For far too long we have been seduced into walking a path that did not lead us to ourselves. For far too long we have said yes when we wanted to say no. And for far too long we have said no when we desperately wanted to say yes.. .. When we don't listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don't, others will abandon us. Terry Tempest Williams

Water is nothing if not ingemination, an encore to the tenacity of life. Terry Tempest Williams

Each of us has one. Each voice is distinct and has something to say. Each voice deserves to be heard. But it requires the act of listening. Terry Tempest Williams

My voice is born repeatedly in the fields of uncertainty. Terry Tempest Williams

My grandmother simply shook her head and said, "You know what you saw. The bird doesn't need to be counted, and neither do you. Terry Tempest Williams

Can you be inside and outside at the same time? I think this is where I live. I think this is where most women live. I know this is where writers live. Inside to write. Outside to glean. Terry Tempest Williams

In the desert I often whisper. Junipers are excellent sounding boards. They have been shaped by wing. Rocks seem to care nothing about what I say, yet when I speak to them, they feel porous, capable of receiving my words and taking them in as part of their history of brokenness. Terry Tempest Williams

A pencil is a wand and a weapon. Be careful. Protect yourself. It can be glorious. Terry Tempest Williams

Conversation is the vehicle for change. We test our ideas. We hear our own voice in a concert with another. And inside those pauses of listening, we approach new territories of thought. A good argument, call it a discussion, frees us. Words fly out of our mouths like threatened birds. Once released, they may never return. If they do, they have chosen home and the bird-worms are calmed into an ars poetica. Terry Tempest Williams

Not everything is meant for all to hear. Terry Tempest Williams

Finding one’s voice is a process of finding one’s passion. Terry Tempest Williams

We know the quality of another’s heart through her voice. Terry Tempest Williams

Once you know that you have a voice, ” Louis said, “it’s no longer the voice that matters, but what is behind the voice. Terry Tempest Williams

Your voice is the wildest thing you own, ” Brooke says to me. “And you’re giving it away. You can’t see it. Your obsession is blinding you.” He is angry. He is talking in shorthand. “You’re losing yourself. Terry Tempest Williams

CONVERSATION is the vehicle for change. Terry Tempest Williams

Faith is the centerpiece of a connected life. It allows us to live by the grace of invisible strands. It is a belief in a wisdom superior to our own. Faith becomes a teacher in the absence of fact. Terry Tempest Williams

I admire how she protects her energy and understands her limitations. Terry Tempest Williams