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My dog does not care where heat comes from, but he cares that it comes, and soon. Indeed he considers my ability to make it come as something magical, for when I rise in the coal black pre-dawn and kneel by the hearth to make a fire, he pushes himself blandly between me and the kindling splits I have laid in the ashes, and I must touch a match to them by poking it between his legs. Such faith , I suppose, is the kind that moves mountains.
Aldo Leopold
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the faith and trust animals, like dogs, have in their humans, highlighting a deeper philosophical perspective on belief and connection.

Aldo Leopold's quote illustrates the idea that dogs possess a simple yet profound faith and trust in their owners, valuing the outcome—such as warmth from a fire—over the complexities of its source. This relationship between a dog and its human serves as a metaphor for the kind of unwavering belief that can inspire great actions, suggesting that such simple faith may indeed have the power to 'move mountains' in a figurative sense.

Themes

FaithTrustDogsRelationshipsBelief

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of trust in relationships.

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When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: He could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker: He could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants.
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Recreational development is a job not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind.
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Individual thinkers since the days of Ezekiel and Isaiah have asserted that the despoliation of land is not only inexpedient but wrong. Society, however, has not yet affirmed their belief.
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A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct
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