Aldo Leopold

"Conservation is hard to define because it means one thing to one man and another to another."

"The land is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals."

"Someday, when our roads have sunken from sight, the land will emerge again."

"The land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it."

"Ecological training should be the birthright of every child."

"A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these resources, but it does affirm their right to continued existence."

"Wilderness preservation is the foundation for conservation."

"The real wealth of the nation is its land."

"We stand guard over works of art but not over works of nature."

"The outstanding scientific discovery is the complexity of the land organism."

"When wild things cease to be common, they become precious."

"All history consists of successive eruptions of freedom."

"The touchstone of an enlightened civilization is its treatment of its wild creatures."

"Land, then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals."

"The penalty of an ecological education is to live alone in a world of wounds."

"Land health is the capacity of the soil to accept plant production without deterioration."

"We are not objectively aware of the fact that we, too, are only a part of the biotic community."

"Wilderness areas are areas where the land retains its native flora and fauna."

"To think like a mountain, one must understand patience."

"Every creature lives in a web of interdependence."

"The cries of the wild geese descending out of the night sky are not economic propositions."

"In wildness is the preservation of the world."

"Land conservation is the basis of all conservation policy."

"We abuse land because we see it as a commodity."

"The land, then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy."

"Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how."

"Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do."

"Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend."

"Wildlife is a renewable resource if, but only if, the annual harvest does not exceed the annual increment."

"Wilderness preservation must rest on a stick of dynamite under the right fifth rib of the American public."