Terms like that, “Humane Society,” are devised with people like me in mind, who don’t care to dwell on what happens to the innocent.

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that some organizations, like the "Humane Society," use names that make people feel good without actually addressing the suffering of innocent creatures. The author is saying that some people prefer to ignore the truth about what really happens to animals, and these organizations take advantage of this by using comforting language that allows people to avoid thinking about it.

About Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is an acclaimed American novelist, essayist, and poet who has won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. Her works often explore themes of social justice, biodiversity, and the relationship between humans and their environment. Kingsolver has become a literary powerhouse, with each of her book titles appearing on the New York Times Best Seller list since 1993.

More about the author

More quotes from Barbara Kingsolver

It’s surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

We’re animals. We’re born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

The important thing isn’t the house. It’s the ability to make it. You carry that in your brains and in your hands, wherever you go… It’s one thing to carry your life wherever you go. Another thing to always go looking for it somewhere else.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

What you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you might not exist. You could be nowhere at all.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

I’m of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

People’s dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. It’s what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work – that goes on, it adds up.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Terms like that, “Humane Society,” are devised with people like me in mind, who don’t care to dwell on what happens to the innocent.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Libraries are the one American institution you shouldn’t rip off.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

The truth needs so little rehearsal.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can’t even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain.

Barbara Kingsolver

American author, poet and essayist