I’ve always found it best to have a routine. I go to my study at the same time every day and climb into my bay window. I may not be inspired every day, but on the days I am, I need to be in place to write. If I’m not particularly inspired, I’ll revise or do research or correspondence. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
I consider fiction a very high-class form of lying. I enjoy and admire it enormously, but I don’t think I’m very good at it. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
Living with anyone for many years takes skill. To keep peace in the household, couples learn to adapt to one another, hopefully in positive ways. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
We try to exile ourselves more and more from nature – not always consciously: We build houses; we dismiss nature; nature has to be outside, because we’re inside. God forbid something like a cockroach comes inside, or some dust. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
We tend to think of heroes only in terms of violent combat, whether it’s against enemies or a natural disaster. But human beings also perform radical acts of compassion; we just don’t talk about them, or we don’t talk about them as much. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
The garden is a living, pulsing, singing, scratching, warring, erotic, and generally rowdy thing. I may find peace in its midst, but I regard it as a whole with many parts, a plural organism. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
In the winter, I enjoy cross-country skiing and raising orchids and amaryllises. If I could grow tropical flowers as perennials, I would, especially hibiscus and mandavilla. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as necessary physical and spiritual companions. Technological nature can’t completely satisfy that yearning. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
Habitats keep evolving new pageants of species, and we shouldn’t interfere. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
On some summer days in New York City, the air hangs thickly visible, like the combined exhalations of eight million souls. Steam rising from vents underground makes you wonder if there isn’t one giant sweat gland lodged beneath the city. Diane Ackerman Read Quote
