Aldo Leopold

Natural History American 1887 – 1948 97 quotes

Author of A Sand County Almanac who advocated a land ethic, declaring that a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity of the biotic community.

Quotes by Aldo Leopold

In human cultures, the humble shall inherit the earth only if the earth is left to the humble.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

The richest values of wilderness lie not in the days of Daniel Boone, but in the days we all have before us.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

We are building a bigger and better cage to keep ourselves in.

Speech 1940

The 'key-log' which must be moved to release the economic binding on the forest is the resistance in the minds of people to a true conservation policy.

Letter 1921

I have no hope for the future of our wildlife unless we educate the present generation.

Speech 1930

The tragedy of our forests is that they are no longer wild.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

Only the mountain has come to life. It is a mountain of many parts, yet one mountain.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

This song of the greenwood is for the birds, and for me a sort of litany.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

The fence-rows are the last retreat of the wild.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not renew itself.

Article 1946

The proof that conservation has any economic value is in the fact that it pays.

Speech 1930

Education is the seed of conservation.

Interview 1940

I see the growth of plants as a struggle for existence among individuals.

Journal 1911

The oak is the strongest tree in the world.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

Thinking like a mountain means knowing that you are part of a larger ecosystem.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

The wolf is the ecologist's symbol of the wild.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

Leopold's rule: Save the parts, lose the whole.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

In country, as in people, a plain design is best.

A Sand County Almanac 1949

The geologist must be a good farmer, or he will not know his rocks.

Letter 1920

Wild beauty is a kind of gold that never depreciates.

A Sand County Almanac 1949