Home > Author > Robin Wall Kimmerer
61 " Infrared satellite imagery, optical telescopes, and the Hubbell space telescope bring vastness within our visual sphere. Electron microscopes let us wander the remote universe of our own cells. But at the middle scale, that of the unaided eye, our senses seem to be strangely dulled. With sophisticated technology, we strive to see what is beyond us, but are often blind to the myriad sparkling facets that lie so close at hand. We thing we're seeing when we've only scratched the surface. Our acuity at this middle scale seems diminished, not by any failing of the eyes, but by the willingness of the mind. Has the power of our devices led us to distrust our unaided eyes? Or have we become dismissive of what takes no technology but only time and patience to perceive? Attentiveness alone can rival the most powerful magnifying lens. "
― Robin Wall Kimmerer , Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
62 " As I grew to understand the gifts of the earth, I couldn't understand how "love of country" could omit recognition of the actual country itself. The only promise it requires is to a flag. What of the promises to each other and to the land? "
― Robin Wall Kimmerer , Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
63 " There are some aches witch hazel can’t assuage. For those, we need each other. "
64 " I am afraid. As afraid today as I was then. For my children, and for the good green world. "
65 " Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond. "
66 " This is really why I made my daughters learn to garden—so they would always have a mother to love them, long after I am gone. "
67 " Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.Take only that which is given.Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.Give thanks for what you have been given.Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever. "
68 " Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift. "
69 " We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world. We need to restore honor to the way we live, so that when we walk through the world we don’t have to avert our eyes with shame, so that we can hold our heads up high and receive the respectful acknowledgment of the rest of the earth’s beings. "
70 " Our indigenous herbalists say to pay attention when plants come to you; they’re bringing you something you need to learn. "
71 " To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language. "
72 " When a language dies, so much more than words are lost. Language is the dwelling place of ideas that do not exist anywhere else. It is a prism through which to see the world. Tom says that even words as basic as numbers are imbued with layers of meaning. The numbers we use to count plants in the sweetgrass meadow also recall the Creation Story. Én:ska—one. This word invokes the fall of Skywoman from the world above. All alone, én:ska, she fell toward the earth. But she was not alone, for in her womb a second life was growing. Tékeni—there were two. Skywoman gave birth to a daughter, who bore twin sons and so then there were three—áhsen. Every time the Haudenosaunee count to three in their own language, they reaffirm their bond to Creation. "
73 " Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart. "
74 " modern capitalist societies, however richly endowed, dedicate themselves to the proposition of scarcity. Inadequacy of economic means is the first principle of the world’s wealthiest peoples.” The shortage is due not to how much material wealth there actually is, but to the way in which it is exchanged or circulated. The market system artificially creates scarcity by blocking the flow between the source and the consumer. Grain may rot in the warehouse while hungry people starve because they cannot pay for it. The result is famine for some and diseases of excess for others. The very earth that sustains us is being destroyed to fuel injustice. An economy that grants personhood to corporations but denies it to the more-than-human beings: this is a Windigo economy. "
75 " The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity. What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together. "
76 " Each person, human or no, is bound to every other in a reciprocal relationship. Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them. If an animal gives its life to feed me, I am in turn bound to support its life. If I receive a stream’s gift of pure water, then I am responsible for returning a gift in kind. An integral part of a human’s education is to know those duties and how to perform them. "
77 " Never take the first plant you find, as it might be the last—and you want that first one to speak well of you to the others of her kind. "
78 " I close my eyes and listen to the voices of the rain. "
79 " The land is the real teacher. All we need as students is mindfulness. "
80 " I want to stand by the river in my finest dress. I want to sing, strong and hard, and stomp my feet with a hundred others so that the waters hum with our happiness. I want to dance for the renewal of the world. "