WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES when we go against our instincts? What are the consequences of not speaking out? What are the consequences of guilt, shame, and doubt?

— Terry Tempest Williams

What is evolution if not creative adaptation and the progression of our own souls?

— Terry Tempest Williams

What is it about the relationship of a mother that can heal or hurt us? Her womb is the first landscape we inhabit. It is here we learn to respond - to move, to listen, to be nourished and grow. In her body we grow to be human as our tails disappear and our gills turn to lungs. Our maternal environment is perfectly safe - dark, warm, and wet. It is a residency inside the Feminine. When we outgrow our mother's body, our cramps become her own. We move. She labors. Our body turns upside down in hers as we journey through the birth canal. She pushes in pain. We emerge, a head. She pushes one more time, and we slide out like a fish. Slapped on the back by the doctor, we breathe. The umbilical cord is cut - not at our request. Separation is immediate. A mother reclaims her body, for her own life. Not ours. Minutes old, our first death is our own birth.

— Terry Tempest Williams

What is the most important thing one learns in school? Self-esteem, support, and friendship.

— Terry Tempest Williams

What other species now require of us is our attention. Otherwise, we are entering a narrative of disappearing intelligences.

— Terry Tempest Williams

When I look in the mirror, I see a woman with secrets. When we don’t listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don’t, others will abandon us.

— Terry Tempest Williams

When I said, “I am my mother, but I’m not,” I was saying my path would be my own.

— Terry Tempest Williams

When it comes to words, rather than using our own voice, authentic and unpracticed, we steal someone else's to shield our fear.

— Terry Tempest Williams

When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship.

— Terry Tempest Williams

Women piece together their lives from the scraps left over for them.

— Terry Tempest Williams