"Do not measure life by the breaths you take, but by the moments that stir your soul. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

History
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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on history by Paula Gunn Allen resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in history is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Paula Gunn Allen

Paula Gunn Allen was an American poet, literary critic, activist, professor, and novelist. Of mixed-race European-American, Arab-American, and Native American descent, she identified with her mother's people, the Laguna Pueblo. Gunn Allen wrote numerous essays, stories and poetry with Native American and feminist themes, and two biographies of Native American women. She edited four collections of Native American traditional stories and contemporary writing.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Paula Gunn Allen

"Life is an unwritten ledger; each passing sunrise offers a clean and waiting page. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

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More about History

"Strangers are exciting, their mystery never ends. But, there's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends."

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"It is always self-defeating to pretend to a generation younger than your own it simply erases your own experience in history."

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"It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed."

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