But as population became denser, the natural chemical and biological recycling processes became overloaded, calling for a redefinition of property rights.

Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favors pollution.

The exquisite sight, sound, and smell of wilderness is many times more powerful if it is earned through physical achievement, if it comes at the end of a long and fatiguing trip for which vigorous good health is necessary. Practically speaking, this means that no one should be able to enter a wilderness by mechanical means.

Never globalize a problem if it can possibly be dealt with locally.

The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them.

Economists (and others) who are satisfied with nature-free equations develop a dangerous hubris about the potency of our species

Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.