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

The land retains an identity of its own, still deeper and more subtle than we can know. Our obligation toward it then becomes simple: to approach with an uncalculating mind, with an attitude of regard...be alert for its openings, for that moment when something sacred reveals itself within the mundane, and you know the land knows you are there.

The most intelligent thing we can do is love, not reason.

One of the great dreams of man must be to find some place between the extremes of nature and civilization where it is possible to live without regret.

We keep each other alive with our stories. We need to share them, as much as we need to share food. We also require for our health the presence of good companions. One of the most extraordinary things about the land is that it knows this—and it compels language from some of us so that as a community we may converse about this or that place, and speak of the need.

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

We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it.