Inspirational Quote Favorites: Rachel Carson

You know that at Postconsumers we love inspirational quotes. In fact, we have an entire section devoted to quotes that inspire you to find satisfaction, love the planet and reject the consumer machine. This month, we’re highlighting quotes from two of our personal inspirations. Today’s quotes are from scientist, biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson.

Rachel Carson was born in 1907 and lived through the important conservation development era of the 1950s and 1960s. She began her career of working to promote the planet as a marine biologist at the U.S. Department of Fisheries. However, by the 1950’s she had become a full time nature writer and her 1951 best-seller, The Sea Around Us, won a National Book Award and served as the first of a trilogy of books. In the 1960s, Carson was at the forefront of the move against pesticides and her 1961 book, Silent Spring, is credited with inspiring a grassroots movement that led to the ban of DDT as well as the eventual formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Needless to say, Rachel Carson has inspired many with her words, but today we’re focusing on our favorites.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”

“In nature nothing exists alone.”

“In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.”

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”

“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 a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility. ”

“A Who’s Who of pesticides is therefore of concern to us all. If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones – we had better know something about their nature and their power.”

“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.”

“Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds.”

Did we miss a Rachel Carson quote that you love and want to share with us? If so, just tell us about it on one of the social media channels below.