An abundance of some good things is perfectly compatible with the scarcity of others; that life is everywhere precarious, man everywhere small.

The wilderness and the idea of wilderness is one of the permanent homes of the human spirit.

The most important part of our lives-our sensations, emotions, desires, and aspirations-takes place in a universe of illusions which science can attenuate or destroy, but which it is powerless to enrich.

It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder.

The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.

The cockroach and the bird were both here long before we were. Both could.

Man is the only one in whom the instinct of life falters long enough to enable it to ask the question "Why?