The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.{Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal}

Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?

If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow.

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe, the less taste we shall have for destruction.

But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.

Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.

I am always more interested in what I am about to do than what I have already done.