My function as a writer is to provide an atmosphere in which people can think wisely about what we're doing on this planet.

My faith is in my colleagues. And when I meet other writers, journalists, who've been doing this for a long time, trying to make us aware of what it is that we're living in, I put my faith in those people.

When I sit at that typewriter, I have to be frightened of what I'm trying to do. I'm frightened by my own belief that I can actually get a story down on paper.

One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse.

The land gets inside of us; and we must decide one way or another what this means, what we will do about it.

The cold view to take of our future is that we are therefore headed for extinction in a universe of impersonal chemical, physical, and biological laws. A more productive, certainly more engaging view, is that we have the intelligence to grasp what is happening, the composure not to be intimidated by its complexity, and the courage to take steps that may bear no fruit in our lifetimes.

I know of no restorative of heart, body, and soul more effective against hopelessness than the restoration of the Earth.