The desire to build a risk-free society has always been a sign of decadence. It has meant that the nation has given up, that it no longer believes in its destiny, that it has ceased to aspire to greatness, and has retired from history to pet itself. – Henry Fairlie, quoted in Conservation Foundation Letter, November 1981

Water flows uphill towards money. – Anonymous, saying in the American West, quoted by Ivan Doig in Marc Reisner, Cad

Waste is a tax on the whole people. – Albert W. Atwood

For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death. – Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962