If I were to choose the sights, the sounds, the fragrances I most would want to see and hear and smell--among all the delights of the open world--on a final day on earth, I think I would choose these: the clear, ethereal song of a white-throated sparrow singing at dawn; the smell of pine trees in the heat of the noon; the lonely calling of Canada geese; the sight of a dragon-fly glinting in the sunshine; the voice of a hermit thrush far in a darkening woods at evening; and--most spiritual and moving of sights--the white cathedral of a cumulus cloud floating serenely in the blue of the sky.
Edwin Way TealeReduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
Edwin Way TealeBetter a thousand times even a swiftly fading, ephemeral moment of life than the epoch-long unconsciousness of the stone.
Edwin Way Teale