Quotessence
Home / Authors / Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllLandConservationWildernessNatureLand ConservationMenPlantAnimalEnvironmentEnvironmental

Famous Aldo Leopold Quotes

“Like all real treasures of the mind, perception can be split into infinitely small fractions without losing its quality. The weeds in a city lot convey the same lesson as the redwoods; the farmer may see in his cow-pasture what may not be vouchsafed to the scientist adventuring in the South Seas.”

MindMayRealCitiesQualitySeaLessonsPerceptionLosingScientistSouthTreasureWeedFarmersCowsSplitsFractionsPasturesRedwoodsAdventuring
Book:A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Create image

“In that year [1865] John Muir offered to buy from his brother ... a sanctuary for the wildflowers that had gladdened his youth. His brother declined to part with the land, but he could not suppress the idea: 1865 still stands in Wisconsin history as the birth-year of mercy for things natural, wild, and free.”

YearsStillsIdeasNaturalLandYouthBrotherBirthMercySanctuaryWisconsinWild And FreeWildflowers
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
Create image

“Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. 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. There is no other way for land to survive the impact of mechanized man, nor for us to reap from it the aesthetic harvest it is capable, under science, of contributing to culture”

MenWayMayUseCultureCommunityLandCapableConceptsAbuseRegardImpactBelongingAestheticCommodityConservationHarvestReapContributingLove And RespectLand Conservation
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
Create image

“I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as many decades.”

YearsMayDoeTwoThreeCausesFailingMountainDecadesMortalsRangeSuspectsThree YearsReplacedBucksHerdsDeerReplacements
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
Create image

“The government tells us we need flood control and comes to straighten the creek in our pasture. The engineer on the job tells us the creek is now able to carry off more flood water, but in the process we have lost our old willows where the owl hooted on a winter night and under which the cows switched flies in the noon shade. We lost the little marshy spot where our fringed gentians bloomed.”

NeedsLittlesGovernmentAbleJobsNightLostProcessWaterEnvironmentalWinterSpotsShadeCowsEngineersFloodOur PastNoonOwlPasturesCreeksWinter Night
Book:Round River
Create image

“Hydrologists have demonstrated that the meanderings of a creek are a necessary part of the hydrologic functioning. The flood plain belongs to the river. The ecologist sees clearly that for similar reasons we can get along with less channel improvement on Round River.”

ReasonWaterRiversEnvironmentalRoundsImprovementFloodCreeks
Book:A Sand County almanac: With other essays on conservation from Round River
Create image

“Two things hold promise of improving those lights. One is to apply science to land-use. The other is to cultivate a love of country a little less spangled with stars, and a little more imbued with that respect for mother-earth - the lack of which is, to me, the outstanding attribute of the machine-age.”

LittlesTwoCountryUseLightAgeEarthMotherStarsLandPromiseMachinesTwo ThingsAttributesImprovingOutstandingMother EarthLand Use
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
Create image

“The elemental simplicities of wilderness travel were thrills. They represented complete freedom to make mistakes. The wilderness gave those rewards and penalties, for wise and foolish acts against which civilization has built a thousand buffers.”

MistakeWiseCivilizationThousandBuiltRewardsSimplicityFoolishMaking MistakesWildernessPenaltiesElementalsComplete Freedom
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
Create image

“There are men charged with the duty of examining the construction of the plants, animals, and soils which are the instruments of the great orchestra. These men are called professors. Each selects one instrument and spends his life taking it apart and describing its strings and sounding boards. This process of dismemberment is called research. The place for dismemberment is called a university.”

MenProcessAnimalDutyResearchInstrumentsPlantUniversityBoardsSoilStringsProfessorsConstructionOrchestraDescribingExamining
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
Create image

“I am asserting that those who love the wilderness should not be wholly deprived of it, that while the reduction of the wilderness has been a good thing, its extermination would be a very bad one, and that the conservation of wilderness is the most urgent and difficult of all the tasks that confront us, because there are no economic laws to help and many to hinder its accomplishment.”

ShouldHas BeensHelpingWould BeLawDifficultEconomicTasksGood ThingsAccomplishmentWildernessConservationDeprivedUrgentReductionHinderExtermination
Author:Aldo Leopold
Create image

“Wilderness is a continuous stretch of country preserved in its natural state, open to lawful hunting and fishing, big enough to absorb a two weeks' pack trip, and kept devoid of roads, artificial trails, cottages, or other works of man.”

MenTwoCountryStatesEnoughBigsNaturalWeekFishingWildernessHuntingArtificialPacksTrailsTwo WeeksCottagesHunting And Fishing
Book:The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold
Create image

“Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow. Invasions can be arrested or modified in a manner to keep an area usable either for recreation, science or for wildlife, but the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible. It follows, then, that any wilderness program is a rearguard action, through which retreats are reduced to a minimum.”

ActionGrowsImpossibleCreationResourcesAreasProgramWildernessMinimumRetreatShrinksInvasionArrestedWildlifeRecreation
Book:A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Create image

“Conservationists have, I fear, adopted the pedagogical method of the prophets: we mutter darkly about impending doom if people don't mend their ways. The doom is impending, all right; no one can be an ecologist, even an amateur one, without seeing it. But do people mend their ways for fear of calamity? I doubt it. They are more likely to do it out of pure curiosity and interest.”

PeopleIfsWayInterestDoubtSeeingPureMethodCuriosityProphetAdoptedDoomCalamity
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
Create image

“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.”

MayUseNatureCommunityNaturalInspiringEnvironmentLandOceanRespectAbuseRegardGreenEnvironmentalCaringPreservesWildernessBelongingSustainabilityPollutionEcologyCommodityConservationPreservationNatural WorldOur EnvironmentWildlifeBeginningOur CommunityMother EarthNatural EnvironmentLove And RespectNature And EnvironmentSave Mother EarthNature LoveEarth And NatureNature ConservationGreen LivingWildlife ConservationEco FriendlyThe Wild NatureConservingInspiring NatureEnvironmental PollutionInspirational EnvironmentalEnergy ConservationGo GreenLand ConservationLove And NatureWhere You BelongEnvironmental SustainabilityLand UseWildlife And NatureConserving EnvironmentDeep EcologyUse And AbuseProtect NatureCommunity LivingCommunity Garden
Author:Aldo Leopold
Create image