"All of us humans have myriad other species to thank. Without them, we couldn't exist. It's that simple, and we can't afford to ignore them, anymore than I can afford to neglect my precious wife--nor the sweet mother Earth that births and holds us all.

Without us, Earth will abide and endure; without her, however, we could not even be."
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)

"Without us, Earth will abide and endure; without her, however, we could not even be. "
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)

"'The Panama Canal,' says Abdiel Perez, 'is like a wound that humans inflicted on the Earth--one that nature is trying to heal.'"
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)

"in the day after humans disappear, nature takes over and immediately begins cleaning house - our houses."
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)

"Back above ground, like robotic versions of the mosques and minarets that grace the shores of Israel’s Bosphorus, Houston’s petroscape of domed white tanks and silver fractioning towers spreads along the banks of its Ship Channel."
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)

"Nobility is expensive, nonproductive, and parasitic, siphoning away too much of society’s energy to satisfy its frivolous cravings."
— Alan Weisman (The World Without Us)