Wendell Berry Quotes

Geese appear high over us, / pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, / as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear / in the ancient faith: what we need / is here. And we pray, not / for new earth or heaven, but to be / quiet in heart, and in eye, / clear. What we need is here.

I would rather sit still in a state of peace on a stone than ride in the motor-car of a multi-millionaire and feel the peacelessness of the multi-millionaire poisoning me.

Contentment ... has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances.

You don't always have to be doing something. You can just be, and that's plenty.

Existence itself does not feel horrible; it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have only to be still to experience.

At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.

One day you'll have a quiet heart.

I have need to busy my heart with quietude.

there comes a time when ambition ceases to burn, or romance to stir, and the highest cry of the human heart is for peace.

No benefit is more constant than simplicity; no happiness more constant than peace.

He was taught by the river. Incessantly, he learned from it. Most of all, he learned from it to listen, to pay close attention with a quiet heart, with a waiting, opened soul, without passion, without a wish, without judgement, without an opinion.

We have to get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment.

My prayer became 'May I find peace... May I love this life no matter what.' I was seeking an inner refuge, an experience of presence and wholeness that could carry me through whatever losses might come.

One of the best things to do sometimes is simply to be.

Happiness is rarely absent; it is we that know not of its presence.

Unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there is nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away.

He will easily be content and at peace, whose conscience is pure.

Happiness can only be found if you can free yourself of all other distractions.

That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquillity.

With a warm drink, in a rocking chair and family and friends around, I am working on finding peace and joy in the moments we have been given. It doesn't have to all make sense. I don't have all the answers.

I'm at a point in my life where I have something solid now. I'm a peaceful person, and I want to be surrounded by peace no matter what I'm doing.

I tend to worry about the minutiae of life. But living in the mountains of Idaho and having retreated from fame, I am more in tune with life.

Peace does exist. It exists in your heart and soul.

We are bombarded on all sides by a vast number of messages we don't want or need. More information is generated in a single day than we can absorb in a lifetime. To fully enjoy life, all of us must find our own breathing space and peace of mind.

I don't want to go anywhere; I don't want to leave anybody behind. Happiness is right here, right now, in this world, in this room. I am happiest wherever it is that I am.