Diane Ackerman - Smell Quotes

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Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.

Diane Ackerman

Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.

Diane Ackerman

Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.

Diane Ackerman

A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar. Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force, all the optimism, expectancy, and passionate bloom of youth. We inhale its ardent aroma and, no matter what our ages, we feel young and nubile in a world aflame with desire.

Diane Ackerman

Violets smell like burnt sugar cubes that have been dipped in lemon and velvet.

Diane Ackerman

Although it may be a little odd to think of it as a form of armor, smell plays many crucial roles in an insect's life. It's similar to a telephone wire over which different kinds of messages can flow: threat, invitation, courtship; the where abouts of food; a call to arms; a password; a death knell; the trail home.

Diane Ackerman