It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. The very holy mountains are keeping mum. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it; we are lighting matches in vain under every green tree. Annie Dillard
About This Quote

This quote from Hermann Hesse is a wonderful reminder to those of us who have been hurt by someone else. Asking the injured party to rethink what is best for them and their situation is just as dangerous and hurtful as hurting them and causing them pain. It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind.

The very holy mountains are keeping mum. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it; we are lighting matches in vain under every green tree.

Source: Teaching A Stone To Talk: Expeditions And Encounters

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More Quotes By Annie Dillard
  1. How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up...
  2. It is difficult to overstate the importance of understanding mirror neurons and their function. They may well be central to social learning, imitation, and the cultural transmission of skills and attitudes–perhaps even of the pressed-together sound clusters we call words. By hyperdeveloping the mirror-neuron system,...
  3. Any ape can reach for a banana, but only humans can reach for the stars.
  4. Even though its common knowledge these days, it never ceases to amaze me that all the richness of our mental life - all our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our ambitions, our love life, our religious sentiments and even what each of us regards us...
  5. Yet as human beings we have to accept-with humility-that the question of ultimate origins will always remain with us, no matter how deeply we understand the brain and the cosmos that it creates.
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