Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides, but they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history, to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.

If we lose our wilderness, we have nothing left worth fighting for.

Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.

The rich diversity of the world's cultures reflects a corresponding diversity in the wilds that gave them birth.

...to any one for whom wild things are something more than a pleasant diversion, (conservation) constitutes one of the milestones in moral evolution.

That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.

I confess my own leisure to be spent entirely in search of adventure, without regard to prudence, profit, self improvement, learning, or any other serious thing.