Wendell Berry
Farmer, poet and essayist (1934 to 2026) whose The Unsettling of America (1977) argued that industrial agriculture destroys land, community and culture together.
Wendell Berry did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsimagination thrives on contact, on tangible connection.
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 1st of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsFor humans to have a responsible relationship to the world, they must imagine their places in it.
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 2nd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsBut the risk, I think, is only that affection is personal. If it is not personal, it is nothing
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 3rd of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsIn such modest joy in a modest holding is the promise of a stable, democratic society, a promise not to be found in “mobility”
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 4th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsA principled dissatisfaction with whatever one has promises nothing or worse.
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 5th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThere is in fact no distinction between the fate of the land and the fate of the people. When one is abused, the other suffers.
↗It All Turns on Affection (2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)neh.gov 6th of 6 in this piece
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Their wordsThe disease of the modern character is specialization.
↗The Unsettling of America (Avon, 1978 printing of the 1977 book)archive.org All 2 from this book
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Their wordsIf a culture is to hope for any considerable longevity, then the relationships within it must, in recognition of their interdependence, be predominantly cooperative
↗The Unsettling of America (Avon, 1978 printing of the 1977 book)archive.org All 2 from this book