Philosophers / Thinkers

38 Inspiring Aldo Leopold Quotes (NATURE)

Top 10 Most Famous Aldo Leopold Quotes (BEST)

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.Pin
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.
I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.Pin
I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.Pin
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
I do not imply that this philosophy of land was always clear to me. It is rather the end result of a life journey.Pin
I do not imply that this philosophy of land was always clear to me. It is rather the end result of a life journey.
Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching - even when doing the wrong thing is legal.Pin
Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching – even when doing the wrong thing is legal.
The oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.Pin
The oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.Pin
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.
The modern dogma is comfort at any cost.Pin
The modern dogma is comfort at any cost.
There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.Pin
There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.
Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals.Pin
Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals.

15 Aldo Leopold Quotes on Nature and the Wilderness

“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.”

Aldo Leopold
Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf.Pin
Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf.
There are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land.Pin
There are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land.
Wilderness is the one kind of playground which mankind cannot build to order.Pin
Wilderness is the one kind of playground which mankind cannot build to order.
There can be no doubt that a society rooted in the soil is more stable than one rooted in pavements.Pin
There can be no doubt that a society rooted in the soil is more stable than one rooted in pavements.

“A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.”

Aldo Leopold
The destruction of soil is the most fundamental kind of economic loss which the human race can suffer.Pin
The destruction of soil is the most fundamental kind of economic loss which the human race can suffer.
Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.Pin
Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.
Land health is the capacity for self-renewal in the soils, waters, plants, and animals that collectively comprise the land.Pin
Land health is the capacity for self-renewal in the soils, waters, plants, and animals that collectively comprise the land.
Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.Pin
Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.
The time has come for science to busy itself with the earth itself. The first step is to reconstruct a sample of what we had to start with. That in a nutshell is the Arboretum.Pin
The time has come for science to busy itself with the earth itself. The first step is to reconstruct a sample of what we had to start with. That in a nutshell is the Arboretum.
One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.Pin
One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.
All conservation of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish.Pin
All conservation of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish.
Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them.Pin
Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them.
The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: What good is it?Pin
The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: What good is it?

2 Aldo Leopold Quotes on Traveling

To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.Pin
To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.
One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.Pin
One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.

9 Inspirational Aldo Leopold Quotes

“We shall never achieve harmony with the land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.”

Aldo Leopold
That the situation appears hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best.Pin
That the situation appears hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best.
A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land.Pin
A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land.
Our job is to sharpen our tools and make them cut the right way… The sole measure of our success is the effect which they have on the forest.Pin
Our job is to sharpen our tools and make them cut the right way… The sole measure of our success is the effect which they have on the forest.
Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.Pin
Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.
To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.Pin
To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.
Conservation, without a keen realization of its vital conflicts, fails to rate as authentic human drama. It falls to the level of a mere utopian dream.Pin
Conservation, without a keen realization of its vital conflicts, fails to rate as authentic human drama. It falls to the level of a mere utopian dream.
Six days shalt thou paddle and pack, but on the seventh thou shall wash thy socks.Pin
Six days shalt thou paddle and pack, but on the seventh thou shall wash thy socks.
Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays.Pin
Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays.

2 Aldo Leopold Quotes on Education

Education, I fear, is learning to see one thing by going blind to another.Pin
Education, I fear, is learning to see one thing by going blind to another.
Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth?Pin
Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth?
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