Beauty is only skin deep; ugliness goes all the way through.

Water, water, water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount , a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.

The artist's job? To be a miracle worker: make the blind see, the dull feel, the dead to live.

most of my wandering in the desert i've done alone. not so much from choice as from necessity - i generally prefer to go into places where no one else wants to go. i find that in contemplating the natural world my pleasure is greater if there are not too many others contemplating it with me, at the same time.

One thing worse than self-hatred is chiggers.

We should restore the practice of dueling. It might improve manners around here.

Wilderness. The word itself is music.