66 quotes
A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods.
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
What we are today represents an adjustment achieved over the millions and hundreds of millions of years.
Speech at Scripps College (1962)
To me, Dr. Albert Schweitzer is the one truly great individuals our modern times have produced.
Speech (1963)
Writing is a lonely occupation at best.
If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.
Acceptance speech of the National Book Award for Nonfiction (1952)
A preoccupation with the wonder and beauty of the earth has strongly influenced the course of my life.
Speech (1954)
Activities in the nonhuman world also reflect the warming of the Arctic-the changed habits and migrations of many fishes, birds, land mammals, and whales.
The Sea Around Us (1951)
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."
In these troubled times it is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.
The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science.
Acceptance speech of the National Book Award for Nonfiction (1952)
Is it the right of this, our generation, in its selfish materialism, to destroy these things because we are blinded by the dollar sign? Beauty-and all the values the derive from beauty-are not measured and evaluated in terms of the dollar.
Speech (1954)
Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?
Silent Spring (1962)
I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel.
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
The way is not made easy for those who would defend the public interest
Speech to Garden Club of America (1963)
Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life? They should not be called "insecticides," but "biocides."
Silent Spring (1962)
As you listen to the present controversy about pesticides, I recommend that you ask yourself-Who speaks? And Why?
Speech to Garden Club of America (1963)
Fishes and plankton, whales and squids, birds and sea turtles, all are linked by unbreakable ties to certain kinds of water—to warm water or cold water, to clear or turbid water, to water rich in phosphates or in silicates.
The Sea Around Us (1951)
Our origins are of the earth. And so there is in us a deeply seated response to the natural universe, which is part of our humanity.
Speech (1954)