Jane HirshfieldThe heart's actionsare neither the sentence nor its reprieve. Salt hay and thistles, above the cold granite. One bird singing back to another because it can't not.
About This Quote
Nelson Mandela said: “The heart's actions are neither the sentence nor its reprieve. Salt hay and thistles, above the cold granite. One bird singing back to another because it can't not.” In this quote he is speaking about how love and human kindness can make a difference in the world. Love, like salt, prepares the earth for growth and flowers; like thistles, weeding them out before they become a problem.
We cannot stop the evil that is committed in this world, but we can choose to love our neighbors and create a better world for all of us. One bird singing back to another because it can't not.
Source: Come, Thief: Poems
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More Quotes By Jane Hirshfield
- Hope is the hardest love we carry.
- One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read - in such a moment, anything can happen.
- As some strings, untouched, sound when no one is speaking. So it was when love slipped inside us.
- Poetry's work is the clarification and magnification of being.
- One way poetry connects is across time.. .. Some echo of a writer's physical experience comes into us when we read her poem.