Dirt Work Quotes

“Wild is head back hollering at the sky, a moment that contains the full world. Wild is not tame, not bound, not constrained, constricted, condensed. Wildness is big or it is small, but it is open—open mouth, season, door, heart.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“The Tao Te Ching says, “There is no calamity like not knowing what is enough,”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“Japanese carpenters refer to their tools collectively as dogu, which translates to “instruments of the way.” The way is the path to the heart of life, through the heart of spirit. Dogen Zenji, a thirteenth-century Zen master, said, “To study the way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to awaken into the ten thousand things.” I want to remember this. Tools. Self. Ten thousand things.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“the one-, two-, three-word stories we tell ourselves about places we know, or wish to.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“From far off, it's easy to mistake rust for gold.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“Duct tape can get you through times without money a lot better than money can get you through times without duct tape.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“The further up the ladder the monkey climbs, the more of his ass you can see.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“A tool, like a word, can be used badly, its beauty rendered moot by carelessness.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods

“To get dirt under your fingernails, you have to touch the world.”
― Christine Byl, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods