Bernd Heinrich > Quotes

“Edward Abbey said you must "brew your own beer; kick in you Tee Vee; kill your own beef; build your cabin and piss off the front porch whenever you bloody well feel like it." I already had a good start. As a teenager in rural Maine, after we came to America, I had learned hunting, fishing, and trapping in the wilderness. My Maine mentors had long ago taught me to make home brew. I owned a rifle, and I'd already built a log cabin. The rest should be easy. I thought I'd give it a shot.”
― Bernd Heinrich

“Spraying to kill trees and and raspberry bushes after a clear-cut merely looks unaesthetic for a short time, but tree plantations are deliberate ecodeath. Yet, tree planting is often pictorially advertised on television and in national magazines by focusing on cupped caring hands around a seedling. But forests do not need this godlike interference... Planting tree plantations is permanent deforestation... The extensive planting of just one exotic species removes thousands of native species.”
― Bernd Heinrich, The Trees in My Forest

“Movement is the essence of life.”
― Bernd Heinrich

“The very idea of "managing" a forest in the first place is oxymoronic, because a forest is an ecosystem that is by definition self-managing.”
― Bernd Heinrich, The Trees in My Forest

“In order to forge alliances, we first need worthy adversaries. Without adversaries, no alliances are necessary.”
― Bernd Heinrich, Why We Run: A Natural History

“There is nothing quite so gentle, deep, and irrational as running--and nothing quite so savage, so wild.”
― Bernd Heinrich, Why We Run: A Natural History

“We are social animals. We like to feel a part of something of beauty and power that transcends our insignificance. It can be a religion, a political party, a ball club. Why not also Nature? I feel a strong identity with the world of living things. I was born into it; we all were. But we may not feel the ties unless we gain intimacy by seeing, feeling, smelling, touching and studying the natural world. Trying to live in harmony with the dictates of nature is probably as inspirational as living in harmony with the Koran or the Bible. Perhaps it is also a timely undertaking.”
― Bernd Heinrich, One Man's Owl: