If the land mechanism as a whole is good then every part is good, whether we understand it or not.

What avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?

Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization.

The practice of conservation must spring from a conviction of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right only when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community, and the community includes the soil, waters, fauna, and flora, as well as people.

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.

The elemental simplicities of wilderness travel were thrills. They represented complete freedom to make mistakes. The wilderness gave those rewards and penalties, for wise and foolish acts against which civilization has built a thousand buffers.

We face the question whether a still higher "standard of living" is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.