How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.
—Barry Lopez
Topics: Integrity, Light
To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together
—Barry Lopez
Topics: Water
We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it
—Barry Lopez
Topics: Universe
The land is like poetry: it is inexplicably coherent, it is transcendent in its meaning, and it has the power to elevate a consideration of human life.
—Barry Lopez
Topics: Wilderness
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Langston Hughes American Poet, Writer
William Saroyan American Playwright, Novelist
Walker Percy American Novelist
William Gaddis American Novelist
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Ken Kesey American Novelist
Raymond Carver American Author