"Where the water fell clear of the rock icicles hang, thick as a thigh, many feet in length, and sometimes when the wind blows the falling water askew as it freezes, the icicles are squint. I have seen icicles like a scimitar blade in shape, firm and solid in their place. For once, even the wind has been fixed." — Nan Shepherd The Living Mountain
"Taking the same trail in the opposite direction is like walking on the other side of time. Everything looks different on the way back. Same trees, same stobs and snags. Same switchbacks and curves; same vistas, same fallen tree bridge across the creek. But going back the way you came, it’s just as easy to lose your footing, but it’s harder to get lost. The light shines on things you didn’t notice on the way there. The path back, it’s the story you tell yourself, afterward." — Alexis M. Smith Marrow Island
"Your experience will greatly improve when you begin to exercise agency over your own outdoor experience. Try new things. Build a skill set. Shrug off doubts, rude remarks, and stereotypes. Surround yourself with people who support you. Know your limits and honor them. Know your ambitions and shoot for them. There is more to gain from your time outside than you can ever lose in trying." — Ruby McConnell A Woman's Guide to the Wild: Your Complete Outdoor Handbook
"I feel that what women can offer to the wilderness is concern and care. The more people who love something, the more chance that something has to survive. If you learn to enjoy a walk in the woods more than an afternoon in a shopping center, you’ll be willing to fight to keep precious undeveloped areas, especially near population centers, from going under concrete." — Maggie Nichols via Anne LaBastille Women and Wilderness
"You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!" — 10th Doctor Doctor Who, "Tooth and Claw"
"Fiction, no matter the form, allows you to live a thousand meaningful experiences and relationships that you could never have in real life. Getting invested in a fictional world means you have a wonderful imagination, a big heart, and the capacity for endless creativity. No one can say anything bad about that." — Sam Maggs The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks
"The dog is gone. We miss him. When the doorbell rings, no one barks. When we come home late, there is no one waiting for us. We still find his white hairs here and there around the house and on our clothes. We pick them up. We should throw them away. But they are all we have left of him. We don’t throw them away. We have a wild hope—if only we collect enough of them, we will be able to put the dog back together again." — Lydia Davis Can't and Won't, "The Dog Hair"
"Beauty is the door to another world." — Voytek Kurtyka Alpinist Magazine, Issue 43, "The View from the Wall"
"Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." — Malcolm Forbes
"Clearly, what gets declared a crisis is an expression of power and priorities as much as hard facts. But we need not be spectators in all this: politicians aren’t the only ones with the power to declare a crisis. Mass movements of regular people can declare one too." — Naomi Kline This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
"Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil." — Yvon Chouinard Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
"To do good, you actually have to do something." — Yvon Chouinard American Express commercial
"You’re not gonna be able to reverse history—but you can change what the future looks like for sure." — Brandon Belcher For the Love of Climbing, Episode 17, "What We Know"
"We don’t need more condescending friction in humanity. We need less. One step in the direction of less societal friction is to seek commonalities. Another step, and one that is sorely needed, is respect." — James Hatch Medium, "My Semester wWith the Snowflakes"
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice." — Martin Luther King Jr. Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965
"Everyone is charmed by a little tomboy, a scrappy little girl in overalls with a ponytail and scraped knees, who loves soccer and baseball and comic books and dirt. But what are we charmed by? It’s not just that she’s cute—it’s that she innocently thinks she’s going to stay this way forever. But we all know she won’t, and why is that? Because as much as we like a tomboy, nobody likes a tomman." — Jessi Klein You’ll Grow Out of It
"In her home, she struggles to find the right words to recognize her husband’s efforts. 'I don’t mean to say that I’m not grateful for you,' she tells him, 'but I really hate that I’m expected by society to be super-grateful for the fact that you’re not totally worthless around the house.'" — Lenny Letter
"I was sick of dating funny but emotionally-stunted guys. I wanted to find a Grown Man. It seemed only fair, I decided, that if that was what I wanted then I should make some attempt to become a Grown Woman. But when I looked at what it would mean to become a woman, one of those standard grown-up ladies, like the ones from commercials for gum or soda or shampoo, it all seemed to involve shrinking, rather than growing." — Jessi Klein You’ll Grow Out of It
"I don’t hate white people; I hate the system of white supremacy that gives them asymmetrical power and unmerited privilege. I don’t hate cops; I hate the pattern of police brutality that systematically harasses and kills black people and other people of color with impunity. I don’t hate soldiers; I hate the horror of war that terrorizes the most politically and economically vulnerable among us. I don’t hate rich people; I hate the system of capitalism that creates an elite one percent at the expense of the rest of us. It is precisely because of my love for humanity that I get enraged at systems that prevent people from flourishing and being free. It’s frustrating to see my righteous anger at unjust systems interpreted as hatred for individuals, but it’s more frustrating to see the oppressed suffer while those maladjusted to injustice remain silent. I won’t be silent. Silence is violence." — Nyle Fort
"Changing minds is not a movement. Critiquing racism is not activism. Changing minds is not activism. An activist produces power and policy change, not mental change." — Ibram Kendi How to Be an Antiracist
