A Selection of Quotes that I've Enjoyed Recently

"As we rush headlong into the twenty-first century, the physicality of trees seems more vital than ever.  The modern workplace and home are becoming increasingly antiseptic.  Americans now spend their days staring into computer screens that receive information as if by magic.  Daily life seems alarmingly virtual.  Trees provide the antidote.  The smell of pine needles, the crunch of autumn leaves, the roughness of bark are all reminders that we are a part of nature.  Tree hugging, in its most literal sense, offers a reconnection with the physical world, the world of our forefathers.  The forests and their trees are a sanctuary for the spirit.  To enter them is to seek renewal."  

Eric Rutkow

American Canopy

Pg. 347-348

"The most satisfying compliment a reader can pay is to tell me that he or she feels personally addressed.  Think of your own favorite authors and see if that isn't precisely one of the things that engages you, often at first without your noticing it.  A good conversation is the only human equivalent: the realizing that decent points are being made and understood, that irony is in play, and elaboration, and that a dull or obvious remark would be almost physically hurtful."

Christopher Hitchens

Mortality

Pg.  50-51

"I am of Irish descent, and to the Irish, books are as natural and inevitable a feature of the landscape as sand is to Tuaregs...When the English stormed the Emerald Isle under Cromwell in the seventeenth century, they took everything that was worth taking and burned everything else.  Thereafter, the Irish had no land, no money, no future.  That left them with words, and words became books, and books, ingeniously coupled with music and alcohol, enabled the Irish to transcend reality."

Joe Queenan

One For The Books

Pg. 9

"Certain things are perfect the way they are and need no improvement.  The sky, the Pacific Ocean, procreation, and the Goldberg Variations all fit this bill, and so do books.  Books are sublime, but books are also visceral.  They are physically appealing, emotionally evocative objects that constitute a perfect delivery system.  Electronic books are ideal for people who value the information contained in them, or who have vision problems, or who like to read on the subway, or who do not want other people to see how they are amusing themselves, or who have storage and clutter issues, but they are useless for people who are engaged in an intense, lifelong love affair with books.  Books that we can touch; books that we can smell; books that we can depend on."

Joe Queenan

One For The Books

Pg. 27