Barbara Kingsolver Quotes

Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.

I rely a great deal on animal instincts.

The instinct of brutes and insects can be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and skill of a powerful ever-living agent.

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.

There is not, in my opinion, anything more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thus rise above reason, and yet fall infinitely short of it.

I think a lot of the inspirations for me are very instinctual and subconscious. I don't over intellectualize stuff much. It's a very instinctual thing.

How Instinct varies in the grov'ling swine.

[Footnote:] To give the Beaver his due, he does things because he has to do them, not because he believes that hard work per se will somehow make him a better Beaver -- the Beaver may be dumb, but he is not that dumb! The Beaver was made to gnaw, and gnaw he does. There you have him in a nutshell.

Beasts, birds, and insects, even to the minutest and meanest of their kind, act with the unerring providence of instinct; man, the while, who possesses a higher faculty, abuses it, and therefore goes blundering on.

We are rarely wrong when we act from impulse.

I sometimes like the situation that forces you to rely on your instinct and impulses.

Everything I do in my life is very instinctual and in the moment. If I'm attracted to something, that's it. If I have reservations, those don't change till they're resolved. My first impression is how I go.

What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct.

He lived according to the laws of instinct and of the innocent and wise conduct that nature impressed upon him in the cradle.

I am a very instinct-driven person.

I do a lot of things instinctively.

I work instinctively. If I like something, I do it.

I go by my instincts. It's whatever I feel in the scene in the moment.

Let's face it, we do have this mating instinct that just won't quit, you know? Just when you think it's safe to come out, there it is again. You're driving down the street, and it's the last thing on your mind, and all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, he looks nice," and you're up a lamppost.

Even the minds of animals, such as dogs, lions, cats, and serpents, become charmed with music.

I could claim any number of high-flown reasons for writing, just as you can explain certain dogs behavior... But maybe, it’s that they’re dog, and that’s what dogs do.

This is the effect of panic, a natural effect, you could say that animal nature is like this, plant life would behave in exactly the same way, too, if it did not have all those roots to hold it in the ground, and how nice it would be to see the trees of the forest fleeing the flames.

The dog is still in the natural state. And you can easily see that, because you have problems and your dog doesn't. And while your happy moments may be rare, your dog celebrates life continuously.

Unconsciousness, spontaneity, instinct ... hold us to the earth and dictate the relatively good and useful.

You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone.