Turtle Island Quotes

“I could almost love you again.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“the man who has the soul of the wolf
knows the self-restraint
of the wolf”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“Goal: Clean air, clean clear-running rivers, the presence of Pelican and Osprey and Gray Whale in our lives; salmon and trout in our streams; unmuddied language and good dreams.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“that we may see ourselves more accurately on this continent of watersheds and life-communities—plant zones, physiographic provinces, culture areas; following natural boundaries. The “U.S.A.” and its states and counties are arbitrary and inaccurate impositions on what is really here.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“WE SHALL SEE
WHO KNOWS
HOW TO BE”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“The Government finally decided
To wage the war all-out. Defeat
is Un-American.
And they took to the air,
Their women beside them
in bouffant hairdos
putting nail-polish on the
gunship cannon-buttons.
And they never came down
for they found,
the ground
is Pro-Communist. And dirty.
And the insects side with the Viet Cong.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“But the poem was born elsewhere, and need not stay. Like the wild geese of the Arctic it heads home, far above the borders, where most things cannot cross.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“The ex acid-heads from the cities
Converted to Guru or Swami,
Do penance with shiny
Dopey eyes, and quit eating meat.
In the forests of North America,
The land of Coyote and Eagle,
They dream of India, of
forever blissful sexless highs.
And sleep in oil-heated
Geodesic domes, that
Were stuck like warts
In the woods.
And the Coyote singing
is shut away
for they fear
the call
of the wild.
And they sold their virgin cedar trees,
the tallest trees in miles,
To a logger
Who told them,
“Trees are full of bugs.”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

“gentle and innocent as wolves
as tricky as a prince”
― Gary Snyder, Turtle Island