Aldo Leopold

"Leopold's philosophy is that we must love the land before we can protect it."

"There is a clear irony in our attitudes toward the land we have chosen to dominate."

"When the land does not belong to the people, the people do not belong to the land."

"Our quarrel is with the process of substitution, not with substitution itself."

"The conservation movement is not doing its job if it merely counts the remaining creatures."

"To be a conservationist is to hear the song that never stops singing."

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

"Leopold maintained that humans must learn to think like a mountain, which is to say, in terms of centuries, not years."

"The land has its own wisdom; we need only the humility to listen."

"Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land."

"A species should not be eliminated without knowing what role it plays in the symphony of life."

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

"Our first loyalty should be not to ourselves, not even to humanity, but to the land itself."

"Leopold believed that an acre of awareness is worth more than acres of protection without understanding."

"The land ethic is revolutionary because it demands a fundamental shift in how we perceive ourselves."

"To think like a mountain is to understand that our actions have consequences that ripple far into the future."

"We are agents of ecological renewal or ecological destruction; there is no neutral position."

"Leopold's greatest gift to us is the idea that land can claim moral consideration."

"The reward for a conservationist is not money, but the knowledge that the land is healed."

"A land ethic begins where the belief that the soil, waters, plants, and animals are all part of us."

"Leopold taught that beauty and survival are not opposites; they are partners."

"When we understand that the land is a community to which we belong, conservation becomes inevitable."

"The land does not belong to us; we belong to the land."

"Leopold's voice continues to call us to a more ethical relationship with the natural world."

"A sand county teaches that there is profound meaning in the ordinary rhythms of nature."

"To be ecological is to understand that every action is connected to every other action."

"Leopold believed that an ecological conscience is as necessary as an economic one."

"The richest values of wilderness lie not in the muscles of its men, but in the nerves of its citizens."

"When we learn to see the land as alive and aware, we begin the journey toward true conservation."

"Leopold's legacy is a challenge to each generation to be better stewards than the one before."