Quotes from Aldo Leopold

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts.

Man brings all things to the test of himself, and this is notably true of lightning.

All history consists of successive excursions from a single starting-point, to which man returns again and again to organize yet another search for a durable scale of values.

Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.

The good life of any river may depend on the perception of its music; and the preservation of some music to perceive.

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.

To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.

We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.

It is, by common consent, a good thing for people to get back to nature.

In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.

I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.

Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty.

Patriotism requires less and less of making the eagle scream, but more and more of making him think.

I do not imply that this philosophy of land was always clear to me. It is rather the end result of a life journey.

Your woodlot is, in fact, an historical document which faithfully records your personal philosophy.

Conservation is a positive exercise of skill and insight, not merely a negative exercise of abstinence and caution.

The road to conservation is paved with good intentions that often prove futile, or even dangerous, due to a lack of understanding of either land or economic land use.

Relegating grizzlies to Alaska is about like relegating happiness heaven; one may never get there.

Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal.

Land health is the capacity for self-renewal in the soils, waters, plants, and animals that collectively comprise the land.

The oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.

To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul - hope you like what you see.

There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.

A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct