Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides, but they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history, to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.
Aldo LeopoldRead
The life of every river sings its own song, but in most the song is long marred by the discords of misuse.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Every river has its unique character, but often it is tarnished by human actions.
Aldo Leopold suggests that while every river has its own natural beauty and story, human activities often disrupt and damage this beauty, leading to a loss of harmony in the natural world. The quote reflects on the importance of respecting nature and recognizing the impact of our actions on the environment, emphasizing that we must listen to and honor the 'songs' of our rivers rather than allowing them to be marred by misuse.
Themes
RiverNatureEnvironmentHuman ImpactHarmony
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation.
More from Aldo Leopold
All quotes βWe Americans, in most states at least, have not yet experienced a bear-less, eagle-less, cat- less, wolf-less woods. Germany strove for maximum yields of both timber and game and got neither.
Aldo LeopoldRead
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.
Aldo LeopoldRead
Recreational development is a job not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind.
Aldo LeopoldRead
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 LeopoldRead
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.
Aldo LeopoldRead
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