Quotes By Barbara Kingsolver

Every time I write a new novel about something sombre and sobering and terrible I think, 'oh Lord, they're not going to want to go here'. But they do. Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brave.

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain.

What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive.

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

Small change, small wonders - these are the currency of my endurance and ultimately of my life.

I grew up aware of all the people I depended on and who depended on me.

Stop a minute, right where you are. Relax your shoulders, shake your head and spine like a dog shaking off cold water. Tell that imperious voice in your head to be still.

The truth needs so little rehearsal.

When you pick up a novel from the bed side table, you put down your own life at the same time and you become another person for the duration.

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.

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

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.