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Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold Quotes

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Famous Aldo Leopold Quotes

“Ideas, like men, can become dictators. We Americans have so far escaped regimentation by our rulers, but have we escaped regimentation by our own ideas? I doubt if there exists today a more complete regimentation of the human mind than that accomplished by our self-imposed doctrine of ruthless utilitarianism.”

IfsMenMindHumansIdeasSelfTodayDoubtDoctrineAccomplishedHuman MindRulersDictatorRuthlessUtilitarianismRegimentation
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“For unnumbered centuries of human history the wilderness has given way. The priority of industry has become dogma. Are we as yet sufficiently enlightened to realize that we must now challenge that dogma, or do without our wilderness? Do we realize that industry, which has been our good servant, might make a poor master?”

WayHumansHas BeensMightGivenRealizingChallengesPoorCenturyMastersIndustryPrioritiesServantEnlightenedWildernessDogmaHuman History
Book:Aldo Leopold's Southwest
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“Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides, but they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history, to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.”

HumansGrowsPiecesLandToolsTasksCommandFasterCracksAtomsTidesHuman History
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“I know a painting so evanescent that it is seldom viewed at all except by some wandering deer. It is a river who wields the brush and it is the same river who before I can bring my friends to view his work erases it forever from human view. After that it exists only in my mind's eye.”

KnowsMindHumansI CanEyeViewsForeverPaintingMy FriendsRiversWanderBrushesEraseDeer
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
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“One of the anomalies of modern ecology is the creation of two groups, each of which seems barely aware of the existence of the other. The one studies the human community, almost as if it were a separate entity, and calls its findings sociology, economics and history. The other studies the plant and animal community and comfortably relegates the hodge-podge of politics to the liberal arts. The inevitable fusion of these two lines of thought will, perhaps, constitute the outstanding advance of this century.”

IfsHumansArtTwoSeemsCommunityLinesAnimalExistenceStudyGroupsModernCenturyCreationFindingsEconomicsPlantInevitableEntityEcologySociologyOutstandingFusionPlants And AnimalsAnomaliesLiberal Arts
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“The most important characteristic of an organism is that capacity for internal self-renewal known as health. There are two organisms whose processes of self-renewal have been subjected to human interference and control. One of these is man himself (medicine and public health). The other is land (agriculture and coservation). The effort to control the health of land has not been very successful.”

MenHumansHas BeensTwoImportantSelfProcessEffortKnownSuccessfulLandCapacityMedicineCharacteristicsInternalsAgricultureOrganismsRenewalInterferencePublic Health
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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