A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis.

The only thing left worth saving is wilderness.

Nearly all of Latin America, from Chile to Mexico, is one long rack of torture. Financed, equipped, and refined by the U.S. government.

War: First day in the U.S. Army, the government placed a Bible in my left hand, a bayonet in the other.

The "terror" of the French Revolution lasted for ten years. The terror that preceded and led to it lasted for a thousand years.

In marriage, the occasional catastrophic crisis is easier to manage than the daily routine.

How could anything non-controversial be of intellectual interest to grown-ups?