It's impossible to write about Native life without humor-that's how people maintain sanity.
Louise ErdrichRead
Ravens are the birds I'll miss most when I die. If only the darkness into which we must look were composed of the black light of their limber intelligence. If only we did not have to die at all. Instead, become ravens.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a deep connection to ravens as symbols of intelligence and a contemplation of death.
In this quote, Louise Erdrich expresses a profound appreciation for ravens, symbolizing their unique intelligence and their role in our understanding of life and death. The wish to transform into ravens suggests a desire to escape mortality and embrace the mystique and wisdom associated with these creatures, highlighting a desire for continuity beyond death.
Themes
RavensDeathIntelligenceLifeDarkness
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading, one might quote this to evoke reflection on mortality and existence.
More from Louise Erdrich
All quotes →It was just enough to sit there without words.
Louise ErdrichRead
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart.
Louise ErdrichRead
The world tips away when we look into our children's faces.
Louise ErdrichRead
...which causes me to wonder, my own purpose on so many days as humble as the spider's, what is beautiful that I make? What is elegant? What feeds the world?
Louise ErdrichRead
Her mind was present because she was always gone. Her hands were filled because they grasped the meaning of empty. Life was simple. Her husband returned and she served him with indifferent patience this time. When he asked what had happened to her heat for him, she gestured to the west. The sun was setting. The sky was a body of fire.
Louise ErdrichRead
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Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?
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If I can't feel, if I can't move, if I can't think, and I can't care, then what conceivable point is there in living?
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Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds
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So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on. I could've died for love-- But for livin' I was born.
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