An Ecologist lives in a world of wounds.

Agricultural science is largely a race between the emergence of new pests and the emergence of new techniques for their control.

There is value in any experience that exercises those ethical restraints collectively called sportsmanship.

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts.

My favorite quote: The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.

The most important characteristic of an organism is that capacity for internal self-renewal known as health. There are two organisms whose processes of self-renewal have been subjected to human interference and control. One of these is man himself (medicine and public health). The other is land (agriculture and coservation). The effort to control the health of land has not been very successful.

Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow... the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible.