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Quote by David R. Brower

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David R. Brower
David R. Brower

David R. Brower was an outstanding environmentalist, born on July 1, 1912, and passed away on November 5, 2000. He played a significant role in the environmental movement, promoting environmental legislation and raising public awareness. more

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“The stream sings a subdued music, a scarcely audible lilt, faint and fluid syllables not quite said. It slips away into its future, where it already is, and flows steadily forth from up the canyon, a fountain of rumors from regions known to it and not to me.”

SaidKnownFlowRiversEnvironmentalStreamsRegionsSlipsFountainRumorFluidSyllablesCanyons
Book:The Far Corner: Northwestern Views on Land, Life, and Literature
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“We don't tend to ask where a lake comes from. It lies before us, contained and complete, tantalizing in its depth but not its origin. A river is a different kind of mystery, a mystery of distance and becoming, a mystery of source. Touch its fluent body and you touch far places. You touch a story that must end somewhere but cannot stop telling itself, a story that is always just beginning.”

KindDifferentEndsStoriesBodyLyingAsksMysterySourceBecomingRiversDistanceEnvironmentalDepthLakesDifferent KindsFluentTantalizing
Book:The Far Corner: Northwestern Views on Land, Life, and Literature
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“We are never far from the lilt and swirl of living water. Whether to fish or swim or paddle, of only to stand and gaze, to glance as we cross a bridge, all of us are drawn to rivers, all of us happily submit to their spell. We need their familiar mystery. We need their fluent lives interflowing with our own.”

NeedsWaterMysteryRiversCrossesEnvironmentalFishesFamiliarBridgesSwimSpellsSubmitGlancesSwirlsFluent
Book:The Far Corner: Northwestern Views on Land, Life, and Literature
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“We grow up hearing so often that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points that we end up thinking it is also the best way to get there. A river knows better-:it has to do with how it dissipates the energy of its flow most efficiently; and how, in its bends, the sediment deposited soon turns into marshes and swampy islands, harboring all manner of interesting life, imparting charm and character to the whole waterway. I would defy you to find a river on this planet that prefers to run straight, unless it has been taught so by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

ThinkingKnowsWayHas BeensTwoEndsWholeCharacterRunningTurnsEnergyGrowsLinesInterestingGrowing UpTaughtPlanetsFlowRiversArmyDistanceEnvironmentalHearingBest WayIslandsCharmEngineersStraight LinesMarshesInteresting Life
Author:Thomas W. Horton
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“An unspoiled river is a very rare thing in this Nation today. Their flow and vitality have been harnessed by dams and too often they have been turned into open sewers by communities and by industries. It makes us all very fearful that all rivers will go this way unless somebody acts now to try to balance our river development.”

WayTryingHas BeensTodayNationsCommunityDevelopmentIndustryBalanceFlowRiversEnvironmentalFearfulVitalityDamsSewersRare ThingsFlowing River
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968-1969
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