Rachel Carson Quotes

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by— offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth. - View Quote Details on We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the…
In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference. - View Quote Details on In an age when man has forgotten his origins and…
To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feelthe breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of year, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be. - View Quote Details on To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense…
The “control of nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man. - View Quote Details on The “control of nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance,…
For each of us, as for the robin in Michigan or the Salmon in the Miramichi, this is a problem of ecology, of interrelationships, of interdependence. We poison the caddis flies in a stream and the salmon runs dwindle and die. We poison the gnats in a lake and the poison travels from link to link of the food chain and soon the birds of the lake margins become its victims. We spray our elms and the following springs are silent of robin song, not because we sprayed the robins directly but because the poison traveled, step by step, through the now familiar elm leaf-earthworm-robin cycle. These are matters of record, observable, part of the visible world around us. They reflect the web of life — or death — that scientists know as ecology. - View Quote Details on For each of us, as for the robin in Michigan…
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth. - View Quote Details on In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every…
It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. - View Quote Details on It occurred to me that if this were a sight…
We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature. - View Quote Details on We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight…
Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. - View Quote Details on Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far…
For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it is a pity that you use it so little. - View Quote Details on For the sense of smell, almost more than any other,…
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, 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. - View Quote Details on If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense…
Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song. - View Quote Details on Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now…
As crude a weapon as a cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life. - View Quote Details on As crude a weapon as a cave man’s club, the…
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 - View Quote Details on If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense…
It is the public that is being asked to assume the risks… - View Quote Details on It is the public that is being asked to assume…
Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world. - View Quote Details on Only within the moment of time represented by the present…
The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery— not over nature but of ourselves. - View Quote Details on The human race is challenged more than ever before to…