[Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.
Interpretation
Walking allows you to observe and appreciate the beauty of life more fully than any other form of transport.
In this quote, Elizabeth Von Arnim expresses the idea that walking provides a unique opportunity to engage with the world around us. Unlike faster modes of transportation, walking allows us to slow down and notice the small, often overlooked details of life, leading to a deeper appreciation of our surroundings and a sense of freedom.
In practice
This quote is perfect for inspiring a nature walk event in a community newsletter.
On wet days I will go into the thickest parts of the forest, where the pine needles are everlastingly dry, and when the sun shines I'll lie on the heath and see how the broom flares against the clouds. I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me.
I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.
If one believed in angels one would feel that they must love us best when we are asleep and cannot hurt each other; and what a mercy it is that once in every twenty-four hours we are too utterly weary to go on being unkind.
Climate change is moving faster than we are, but we don't give up because we know that climate action is the only path.
The road made wet by the water of August shines like it was cut in full moonlight
When I would re-create myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable and to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter as a sacred place, a Sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow, of Nature.
Hunting and gathering are in my blood. But I've lived long enough to witness a diminution in the seas, and to notice a fragility where once I saw - or assumed - an endless bounty.
We need to save the Arctic not because of the polar bears, and not because it is the most beautiful place in the world, but because our very survival depends upon it.
With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you're connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.