Tara Rock

“It’s winter that raises the apple from the earth. The bitter cold, the ice like knives, the crystals of ice underground that cut into the hard coat and breach the soft, pale place inside where root and stem and leaf are one. The apple won’t be coddled. Until it knows true suffering, the seed won’t sprout at all. The tree will never live.”
― Olivia Hawker, One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow

“I was taught by family at ten.
I was taught by books at twenty.
I was taught by enemies at thirty.
I was taught by nature at forty.
I was taught by life at fifty.

At ten, I was foolish.
At twenty, I was naïve.
At thirty, I was alert.
At forty, I was experienced.
At fifty, I was wise.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“Our task as humans is to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

“Perhaps it would be a good idea if everyone just stopped writing for a couple of years and allowed readers to catch up.”
― John Boyne, A Ladder to the Sky