When silence is a choice, it is an unnerving presence. When silence is imposed, it is censorship.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
What I fear and desire most in this world is passion. I fear it because it promises to be spontaneous, out of my control, unnamed, beyond my reasonable self. I desire it because passion has color, like the landscape before me. It is not pale. It is not neutral. It reveals the backside of the heart.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Passion evokes both fear and desire, as it is powerful and uncontrollable yet vibrant and enriching.
In this quote, Terry Tempest Williams expresses the duality of passion in her life. She acknowledges that while passion can be intimidating due to its unpredictable nature and the potential lack of control over it, it is also something to be yearned for because of its vividness and the depth it adds to human experience. Passion brings intensity and may reveal deeper emotions, offering a fuller picture of the human heart beyond what is commonly understood.
Themes
PassionFearDesireEmotionVibrancy
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a speech about pursuing one's dreams and embracing the full range of human emotions.
More from Terry Tempest Williams
All quotes →The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit-a living democracy?
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn, and to sing at dusk, was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
I am slowly, painfully discovering that my refuge is not found in my mother, my grandmother, of even the birds of Bear River. My refuge exists in my capacity to love. If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
How do we remain faithful to our own spiritual imagination and not betray what we know in our own bodies? The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
The Eyes of the Future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.
Terry Tempest WilliamsRead
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