Appalachian Quotes

“And there is an earlier Wilson cycle, too, a billion years old, entrapped alongside the Appalachians: the Grenville, which rises to the surface in Central Park, New York, to remind us that the human and urban is no more than foam on the sea of the past.”

“Afghan GirlIce blue eyes that look to the morning sky as I knit the pieces and remnants of my life. I have No books, no paper, no pencils, and no black boards. I look at the holes in my life as I see the hills of the Appalachians that echo. I think to myself, who will I marry? Is my life-like Pari? These strings please come together. Snowflakes give me hope, and my dreams dance all around me. I‘ll put another log on the fire. I watch the brown paper bag over the broken glass pane letting the cold wind in; I’ll take some of these remnants and stuff it.These strings are come together. Mama told me that life would be hard. I bartered for flour the other day, and the chickens ain’t laying no eggs. I struggle with life and these strings. My hands are worn and tired. Now, I have granny square hands. I am unclean, unblemished, and finished, Afghan girl.”

“As a result of my hike, I am much more inclined to "do" things. I will have fewer "should have done"s even if it means incurring some "wish I hadn't"s.”

“Set loose, a child would run down the paths, scramble up the rocks, lie on the earth. Grown-ups more often let their minds do the running, scrambling, and lying, but the emotion is shared. It feels good to be here.”

“I ate some emotional soup in my childhood and have spent a lifetime trying to digest it.”

“Going down 6% grades using only a hand brake and low gears wasn’t for sissies and, in retrospect, might have been for idiots.”

“All of the authoritative books on bears seem to agree on one thing: if you're close enough to a bear to cause it to change its activity pattern, you're too close, and in possible danger.”

“A few birds sang in the distance; everything was still. We were truly alone. This was it, no turning back now. Even if we did, it was a long walk home.”

“I would never have started this trip if I had known how tough it was, but I couldn't and wouldn't quit.”

“Henry,that's how you get rid of fleas. You keep them from laying eggs. You go to war with them.”