Wilderness Quotes

The mist was all gone from the river now and the rapids sparkled and sang. They were still young as the land was young. We were there to enjoy it, and the great machines seemed far away.

Sigurd F. Olson

Simplicity in all things is the secret of the wilderness and one of its most valuable lessons. It is what we leave behind that is important. I think the matter of simplicity goes further than just food, equipment, and unnecessary gadgets; it goes into the matter of thoughts and objectives as well. When in the wilds, we must not carry our problems with us or the joy is lost.

Sigurd F. Olson

Awareness is becoming acquainted with the environments, no matter where one happens to be. Man does not suddenly become aware or infused with wonder; it is something we are born with. No child need be told its secrets; he keeps it until the influence of gadgetry and the indifference of teen-age satiation extinguish its intuitive joy.

Sigurd F. Olson

Conservation is a foresighted utilization, preservation and/or renewal of forest, waters, lands and minerals, for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time.

Gifford Pinchot

With the beauty before me, May I walk With beauty behind me, May I walk With beauty above me, May I walk With beauty below me, May I walk With beauty all around me, May I walk Wandering on a trail of beauty, Lively, I walk.

Proverbs, Navajo Indians

If you plan for a year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, educate your children.

Chinese Proverb

You can only go halfway into the darkest forest; then you are coming out the other side.

Chinese Proverb

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our childresn--that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himselfÖ

Chief Seattle

Thereís a land where the mountains are nameless, And the rivers all run God knows where; There are lives that are erring and aimless, And deaths that just hang by a hair; There are hardships that nobody reckons; Thereís a land - oh, it beckons and beckons, And I want to go back - and I will.

Robert Service†

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things arenít going to get better, theyíre not!

Dr. Seuss

I settled at Cold Mountain long ago, Already it seems like years and years. Freely drifting, I prowl the woods and streams And linger watching things themselves. Men don't get this far into the mountains, White clouds gather and billow. Thin grass does for a mattress, The blue sky makes a good quilt. Happy with a stone under head, Let heaven and earth go about their changes.

Gary Snyder

We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the earth itself, has cause to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, we'll go to great effort to save what it might destroy.

Wallace Stegner

For a great tree death comes as a gradual transformation. Its vitality ebbs slowly. Even when life has abandoned it entirely it remains a majestic thing. On some hilltop a dead tree may dominate the landscape for miles around. Alone among living things it retains its character and dignity after death. Plans wither; animals disintegrates. But a dead tree may be as arresting, as filled with personality, in death as it is in life. Even in its final moments, when the massive trunk lies prone and it has moldering into a ridge covered with mosses and fungi, it arrives at a fitting and noble end. It enriches and refreshes the earth. And later, as part of other green and growing things, it rises again.

Edwin Way Teale

Thank God, they cannot cut down the clouds!

Henry David Thoreau

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.

J.R.R. Tolkien