"I really try to see [each spot I visit] with new eyes, because I don't want to become complacent just because I've lived here for so long. I want to see everything new all the time. [I want] to be always open and aware of my environment and the new things that it's telling me, or the old things that it's reminding me of." — Alexandra de Steiguer HumaNature Podcast Episode 124: The Woman of Star Island
"What do you mean the wind is not alive?
" — Traci Brimhall Mouth of the Canyon, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World
"Public lands are our public commons, breathing spaces in a country that is increasingly holding its breath. ... These are places of peace and renewal, where landscapes of beauty become landscapes of our imaginations. We stand before a giant sequoia and remember the size of our hearts instead of the weight of our egos." — Terry Tempest Williams "Public lands are our public commons", The New York Times
"The air is thinner, clearer, the views longer. You can see every which way, in all directions—bowls and cirques, high ridges, mountains beyond mountains. You are in the air, almost flying. The climb has been taxing, but here at the edge of the sky, the mountain gives you all its energy, fills you with a kind of exhilaration you rarely feel down low, in the trees. Here you are closer to the sky. You are sky." — Katie Arnold Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." — John Burroughs
"Maybe it’s the sun’s first light on these ancient cliffs, or the heavy current of the river, the feeling that this place exists outside of human time. But here, I start to feel like myself again." — Hilary Oliver She Explores, Episode 3, "Being Here: How the Outdoors Make Us Feel"
"I know that I could, under ordinary circumstances, accumulate wealth and obtain a fair position in society, and I am arrived at an age that requires that I should choose some definite course for life. … I brooded on the bread problem, so troublesome to wanderers, trying to believe that I might learn to live like the wild animals, gleaning nourishment here and there, sauntering and climbing in joyful independence of money or baggage. But I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news. It feels important to keep close to Nature’s heart and break clear away, once in awhile, and spend a week in the wild to Wash your spirit clean." — John Muir via Samuel Hall Young Alaska Days with John Muir
"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, breathe 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." — Edward Abbey
"People often ask “Why?” and I wonder – why not? I’m not anyone special. I am just someone who believed in herself. Someone who would never have been able to spend the rest of my life standing still in one place, dreaming of being somewhere different, wondering if I was capable. I know the future me will never question why she did any of these things, she will just be glad she did." — Alex Mason Adventure Journal, "Getting Out to Get Out of a Stale Life"
"When we’re in love with someone or something, there’s no separation between ourselves and the person or thing we love. We do whatever we can for them, and this brings us great joy and nourishment. When we see the Earth this way, we will walk more gently on her." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"We know that we want to be more present, but very often we don’t do it. We need a friend or a teacher to remind us. The Earth can be that teacher. It is always there, greeting your feet, keeping you solid and grounded." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they’d live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day." — Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbs
"I wonder how [children] will imagine the infinite when they have never seen how the stars fill a dark night sky." — Barbara Kingsolver Small Wonder
"The wilderness holds answers to questions man has not yet learned to ask." — Nancy Newhall
"We save what we love and we love what we know." — George Wendt
"Public lands instruct in the value of respecting differences. We may all be endowed with a love of nature, but that passion takes many forms. Public lands must accommodate multiple uses because there are multiple publics whose wishes point in all directions. … Such differences don’t have to fester into divisions. The duck hunter and the birdwatcher may have their own ideas about the highest value of a wetland. Yet both know that without public protection, there might not be a wetland at all…. America’s public lands teach the etiquette of sharing. They instruct is in the manners of coexistence, cooperation, and consideration toward each other. … Such humility can remind us that even though we may find the culture and politics of others to be incomprehensible, their desire to find happiness in the natural world is much the same as our own." — Jason Mark Sierra Magazine, July/August 2020 Issue, "In Public Lands is the Preservation of the Republic"
"I feel the urge to share these wild places with everyone, but I also covet the solitude that is only possible in places where humans are scarce." — Rebecca Robinson Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land
"I’d had this idea that I could push myself physically through anything if I was tough and smart and rugged, and that the push would show me something about myself and my place on the river. That being able to do things alone was a sign of strength, not fear. I’d thought I could conquer the landscape and fully understand the problem of water use. But none of that is true. The tough part is connection, looking across lines and knowing when to push the lever on what you think is right." — Heather Hansman Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
