Words That Keep Me Wild
They jolt me awake, quiet the noise, and bring me back to a place of purpose
This Week’s Takeaway:
I review quotes for inspiration when I’m feeling, well, uninspired.
This week, I share a sampling of the quotes I’ve looked at lately. Perhaps they’ll help you discover a new author or bring a new perspective to your day.
The deer hunter habitually watches the next bend; the duck hunter watches the skyline; the bird hunter watches the dog; the non-hunter does not watch.
Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Any man who hunts, hunts in order to kill, no matter what he says about it…the ultimate aim of a blood sport is the death of a beast.
Kelly, Tenth Legion
But deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of their fathers, who killed first with stone, and then with club, and then with spear, and then with bow, and then with gun, and finally with formulae.
Ruark, Horn of the Hunter
The trophy-hunter is the caveman reborn. Trophy-hunting is the prerogative of youth, racial or individual, and nothing to apologize for…The disquieting thing in the modern picture is the trophy-hunter who never grows up, in whom the capacity for isolation, perception, and husbandry is undeveloped, or perhaps lost.
Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
They live, breed, and die on the mountain tops, far removed from valleys pierced by roads and blotted by houses, shops, gas fumes, man noise, and man scent. They course those small mountain streams that are pure as freshly fallen snow. They browse on moss by hidden springs that are fountainheads for lakes, and they feed on beechnuts, leaves, and buds. They bed down on small hillocks, where the trees are often stunted by the altitude.
In winter, when the hoarfrost whitens the mountaintops and the winds is sharp, they browse their way down the mountain to the basin swamps, their winter habitat. In spring as the sun rises high over the vernal equinox, they follow the buds that redden the mountainsides. The sharp wind turn sweet, refreshing, and blow the flies away from their nose and eyes and rack.
Benoit, How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life
When Montana’s eager September frosts knocked my garden on its butt, the hoe seemed more like the rifle than it ever had before, the vegetables more like game.
McGuane, The Heart of the Game
All major human characteristics – size, metabolism, sexual and reproductive behavior, intuition, intelligence – had come into existence and were oriented to the hunting life.
Shepard, The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game
A mind adapted over hundreds of thousands of years for the pursuit of singular goals, tackled one at a time, often with clear feedback about each activity’s success or failure, might struggle when faced instead with an in-box overflowing with messages connected to dozens of unrelated projects.
Newport, What Hunter-Gatherers Can Teach Us
Like fingers pointing to the moon, other diverse disciplines from anthropology to education, behavioral economics to family counseling, similarly suggest that the skillful management of attention is the sine qua non of the good life and the key to improving virtually every aspect of your experience, from mood to productivity to relationships.
Gallagher, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life
One doesn’t need to go to the mountains or virgin forests to find wild food plants. In fact, mountains and dense forests are among the poorer places to look. Abandoned farmsteads, old fields, fence rows, burned off areas, roadsides, along streams, woodlots, around farm ponds, swampy areas and even vacant lots are the finest foraging areas…I have collected fifteen species that could be used for food on a vacant lot right in Chicago.
Gibbons, Stalking the Wild Asparagus
All too evident today are the thousands of affluent but nervous people, seeking some sort of synthetic physical challenge. In every outdoor activity that once demanded well-earned skills and genuine honest-to-God risk, you can now buy a guided weekend of imitation thrills on a guaranteed no-risk basis.
Guy & Laura Waterman, Wilderness Ethics: Preserving the Spirit of Wildness
The Gods of the valleys are not Gods of the hills.
Ethan Allen, Albany, New York
They say Vermont if rolled out flat would equal Illinois in size; but primaries then would cost so much the rich might win and not the wise…
Cady, Rhymes of Vermont Rural Life
“He hasn't much faith.”
“No,” the old man said. “But we have. Haven't we?”
Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Yes, I have fear within myself, but I also have non-fear within myself.
If you set fire to the land, the land remains, and the life returns to it. If you set fire to a piece of paper, like a dollar bill, it burns away to the end, and nothing is left.
Charlie Gunner, Cree hunter, Mistassini from Richardson’s Strangers Devour the Land
In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind…You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire…with nothing remaining but ashes.
Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
What had struck me most in the isolation of this wilderness was an abiding sense of paradox. In its raw, convincing emphasis on the irrelevance of the visitor, it was forcefully, importantly repellent. It was no less strongly attractive-with a beauty of nowhere else, composed in turning circles. If the wild land was indifferent, it gave a sense of difference. If at moments it was frightening, requiring an effort to put down the conflagrationary imagination, it also augmented the touch of life. This was not a dare with nature. This was nature.
McPhee, Coming into the Country
I'm a big fan of collecting the words of wise people, and I feel very satisfied after reading this collection. Thanks for sharing, Jesse!
Great quotes. Gives perspective and something to consider.