Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.

I balked at nothing, I was above nothing. Everything had something to teach me.

That is all the National Parks are about. Use, but do no harm.

The perfect weather of Indian Summer lengthened and lingered, warm sunny days were followed by brisk nights with Halloween a presentiment in the air.

American individualism, much celebrated and cherished, has developed without its essential corrective, which is belonging.

Homesickness is a great teacher. It taught me, during an endless rainy fall, that I came from the arid lands, and like where I came from. I was used to dry clarity and sharpness in the air. I was used to horizons that either lifted into jagged ranges or rimmed the geometrical circle of the flat world. I was used to seeing a long way. I was used to earth colors--tan, rusty red, toned white--and the endless green of Iowa offended me. I was used to a sun that came up over mountains and went down behind other mountains. I missed the color and smell of sagebrush, and the sight of bare ground.

Values, both those that we approve and those that we don't, have roots as deep as creosote rings, and live as long and grow as slowly