For the true measure of agriculture is not the sophistication of its equipment the size of its income or even the statistics of its productivity but the good health of the land.

Geese appear high over us, / pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, / as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear / in the ancient faith: what we need / is here. And we pray, not / for new earth or heaven, but to be / quiet in heart, and in eye, / clear. What we need is here.

There comes . . . a longing never to travel again except on foot.

How do we submit? By not being radical enough. Or by not being thorough enough, which is the same thing.

To be patient in an emergency is a terrible trial.

We cannot hope to be secure when our government has declared, by its readiness to act alone, its willingness to be everybody's enemy.

There’s nothing under the ground that’s worth more than the little layer of topsoil sitting on top of it.