American Conservationist, Author and Essayist
(January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989)
"Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion."
"Civilization, like an airplane in flight, survives only as it keeps going forward."
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
"Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers - obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls."
"I come more and more to the conclusion that wilderness, in America or anywhere else, is the only thing left that is worth saving."
"If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness."
"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breath deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."
"One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork."
"Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart."
"Taxation: how the sheep are shorn."
