Wisdom on the Web of Life
Our human species is but one of earth’s many settlers, but we’re a powerful and unruly lot. We’ve harvested a sufficient
arsenal to explode this precious globe in one fell swoop—or to hack away in gradual persistence. Wise beings among
us have warned that Mother Nature weeps at our heedless disregard; their advice is to stop and search within. We’ve
been gifted the wondrous privilege of life, but it comes with the responsibility of interconnectedness. Common Ground
is proud to present a sampling of this wisdom—along with photographs to remind us of our planet’s imperiled beauty.
Let’s inhale a collective breath of gratitude and with it the remembrance of our sacred contract.
The happiest man is he
who learns from nature
the lesson of worship.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
—Bob Dylan
Here is your country.
Cherish these natural
wonders, cherish the natural
resources, cherish the
history and romance as a
sacred heritage, for your
children and your children’s
children. Do not let selfish
men or greedy interests skin
your country of its beauty, its
riches, or its romance.
—Theodore Roosevelt
God has cared for
these trees, saved them
from drought, disease,
avalanches, and a
thousand tempests and
floods. But he cannot
save them from fools.
—John Muir
There is a tendency at
every important but difficult
crossroad to pretend that
it’s not really there.
—Bill McKibben
Our task must be to free
ourselves . . . by widening
our circle of compassion to
embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature
and its beauty.
—Albert Einstein
The sea, the great unifier, is man’s
only hope. Now, as never before,
the old phrase has a literal meaning:
we are all in the same boat.
—Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Many men go fishing all of their lives without
knowing that it is not fish they are after.
—Henry David Thoreau
When the last tree has been
cut down, the last fish caught,
the last river poisoned, only
then will we realize that we
can’t eat money.
—Native American saying