"I am not a scientist in the sense that I wear a white coat and work in a laboratory. I am a writer, and my laboratory is the world around me."

"The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized."

"It is not my intention to lead you into a life of morbid contemplation of the future. I want rather to awaken in you a sense of urgency."

"The balance of nature is not a static thing; it is a dynamic, complex, and constantly changing relation among living things and their nonliving environment."

"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 …"