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Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold Quotes

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Famous Aldo Leopold Quotes

“A profession is a body of men who voluntarily measure their work by a higher standard than their clients demand. To be professionally acceptable, a policy must be sound as well as salable. Wildlife administration, in this respect, is not yet a profession.”

MenWellsBodySoundPolicyHigherDemandStandardsProfessionAdministrationAcceptableClientsWildlifeHigher Standards
Book:The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold
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“I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land.”

ThinkingMenWritingMatterFacesWrittenLandDefinitionsSuspectsPensStrokesSignaturesChopping
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
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“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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“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
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“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)
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“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
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“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”

IfsMenFirstsWholeLastsCoursesAnimalLandIgnoranceFoolBuiltIntelligentPlantUselessWheelsMechanismLast WordsPrecautionCogsTinkeringLand Conservation
Book:Round River
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“Tell me of what plant-birthday a man takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about his vocation, his hobbies, his hay fever, and the general level of his ecological education.”

MenLevelsDealsPlantHobbiesVocationFeverEcologicalHayHay Fever
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“Man always kills the thing he loves, and so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?”

MenMayCountryYoungGladSpotsFortyWildernessMapsBlankPioneersBe YoungLand Conservation
Book:A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
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“Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization. Wilderness was never a homogenous raw material. It was very diverse. The differences in the product are known as cultures. The rich diversity of the worlds cultures reflects a corresponding diversity. In the wilds that gave them birth.”

MenWorldCultureDifferencesKnownRichMaterialsProductsBirthCivilizationDiversityWildernessDiverseRaw MaterialsCorrespondingArtifactsHammered
Book:Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology: (Library of America #238)
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“There is yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations.”

MenStillsGirlGrowsAnimalGrowing UpEconomicLandEthicsRelationPropertyPlantSlavePrivilegeObligationOdysseusSlave Girl
Book:The River of the Mother of God: and other Essays by Aldo Leopold
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“We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness. The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau's dictum: In wilderness is the salvation of the world. Perhaps this is the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among mountains, but seldom perceived among men.”

ThinkingMenWorldLifeWellsLongEnoughSeemsRunningBehindsKnownToo MuchDangerComfortMountainMachinesVoteSafetySalvationDollarsStriveProsperityLegsObjectivesPoisonWildernessPensYieldLong RunsTrapsStrifeLong LifeStatesmenDeerHowlDullnessMeasure Of SuccessSuppleHidden Meaning
Author:Aldo Leopold
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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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