Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel.

It is part of wisdom never to revisit a wilderness, for the more golden the lily, the more certain that someone has gilded it

Third, there is value in any experience that exercises those ethical restraints collectively called 'sportsmanship'. Our tools for the pursuit of wildlife improve faster than we do, and sportsmanship is the voluntary limitation in the use of these armaments. It is aimed to augment the role of skill and shrink the role of Gadgets in the pursuit of wild things.

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.

Never did we plan the morrow, for we had learned that in the wilderness some new and irresistible distraction is sure to turn up each day before breakfast. Like the river, we were free to wander.

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

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.