"Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier."

Wisdom

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Wisdom as articulated by Barbara Kingsolver. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Wisdom provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Ellen Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo; and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.

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More by Barbara Kingsolver

"At home, growing up, we weren't really poor. We had everything we needed, we just didn't have what we wanted."

— Barbara Kingsolver
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"I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves."

— Barbara Kingsolver
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"I used to think religion was just more of the same thing. Dump responsibility on the big guy. Now I see an importance in that. It's a relief to accept that not everything is under your control."

— Barbara Kingsolver
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"I can count all the ways in which being a mother has enriched my understanding of the world, of character, my sense of the future and my attachment to it. I can't imagine what kind of writer I'd be if I didn't have my kids."

— Barbara Kingsolver
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More about Wisdom

"I am hoping this is my year to have children. I understand that I am possibly more European in my views of marriage. I am not going to say I'm not going to get married, but it's not my priority."

— Emily Procter
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"All handling by IPCC of the Sea Level questions have been done in a way that cannot be accepted and that certainly not concur with modern knowledge of the mode and mechanism of sea level changes."

— Nils-Axel Morner
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"Wisdom principle 92 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 77."

— Emily Dickinson
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"I always entertain great hopes."

— Robert Frost
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