“Teach us the names of what we have destroyed.”

—  Dana Gioia

"A California Requiem"
Poetry, Interrogations at Noon (2001)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Teach us the names of what we have destroyed." by Dana Gioia?
Dana Gioia photo
Dana Gioia80
American writer 1950

Related quotes

Lucian photo

“Criticism is twofold: that which teaches us what we are to choose, and that which teaches us what to avoid.”

Lucian (120) ancient Greek writer

How to Write History

Eleanor Farjeon photo

“Of what use to destroy the children of evil? It is evil itself we must destroy at the roots.”

Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard

Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)

Umberto Eco photo

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”

Umberto Eco book Foucault's Pendulum

Source: Foucault's Pendulum

“Once you have courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it.”

Lloyd Alexander The Chronicles of Prydain

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964), Chapter 19

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“Teach us that wealth is not elegance; that profusion is not magnificence; and that splendour is not beauty. Teach us that taste is a talisman which can do greater wonders than the millions of the loanmonger. Teach us that to vie is not to rival, and to imitate not to invent. Teach us that pretension is a bore. Teach us that wit is excessively good-natured, and, like champagne, not only sparkles, but is sweet. Teach us the vulgarity of malignity. Teach us that envy spoils our complexions, and that anxiety destroys our figure.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), The Young Duke (1831), Chapter 10.

Cassandra Clare photo

“We're called Shadowhunters. At least, that's what we call ourselves. The Downworlders have less complimentary names for us.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Source: City of Bones

Douglas Adams photo

“If we think that the world is here for us we will continue to destroy it the way we have been destroying it, because we think we can do no harm.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Parrots, the Universe and Everything (2001)

Janet Fitch photo

“What can she possibly teach you, twenty seven names for tears?”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

José Saramago photo

“Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.”

José Saramago book Blindness

Dentro de nós há uma coisa que não tem nome, essa coisa é o que somos.
Source: Blindness (1995), p. 276

Rich Mullins photo

“We do not find happiness by being assertive. We don't find happiness by running over people because we see what we want and they are in the way of that happiness so we either abandon them or we smash them. The Scriptures don't teach us to be assertive. The Scriptures teach us—and this is remarkable—the Scriptures teach us to be submissive. This is not a popular idea.”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

Seminar at LeSEA Broadcasting Studios in South Bend, Indiana http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2003/richmullins-hiatranscript1.html (February 1993)

Related topics