" Earth is ancient now, but all knowledge is stored up in her. She keeps a record of everything that has happened since time began. Of time before time, she says little, and in a language that no one has yet understood. Through time, her secret codes have gradually been broken. Her mud and lava is a message from the past.

Of time to come, she says much, but who listens? "

― Jeanette Winterson , Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles