“There is a tendency at every important but difficult crossroad to pretend that it's not really there.”

“if there is any one subject on which everyone seems to agree, any one point of doctrine to which every political sect subscribes, it's that "economic growth" is the highest goal, our ultimate goal as a country. and not only as a country-as states, as communities, as corporations, as individuals.”

“what sets wilderness apart in the modern day is not that it's dangerous (it's almost certainly safer than any town or road) or that it's solitary (you can, so they say, be alone in a crowded room) or full of exotic animals (there are more at the zoo). it's that five miles out in the woods you can't buy anything.”

“what you do every day is what forms your mind and precious few of us can or would spend most days outdoors.”

“money supplants skill; it's possession allows us to become happily stupid.”

“It's a quiet revolution begun by ordinary people with the stuff of our daily lives.”

“we have developed a series of emotional thermostats as well, by far the most potent of which is television itself. instead of really experiencing the highs and lows, pains and joys, that make up a life, many of us use TV just as we use central heating- to flatten our variations, to maintain a constant "optimal" temperature.”