It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.

Every animal that walks the earth, or swims, or flies is precious beyond description, something so rare and wonderful that it equals the stars or the ocean or the mind of man.

No man leaves where he is and seeks a distant place unless he is in some respect a failure.

Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all other ... a mighty ocean, resting uneasily to the east of the largest continent, a restless ever-changing, gigantic body of water that would later be described as Pacific.

I think young people ought to seek the experience that is going to knock them off center.

There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones.

a soldier lives always for the next battle, because he knows that before it arrives impossible changes can occur in his favor.