Ed Begley Jr. Quotes

Why is it that the destruction of something created by humans is called vandalism, yet the destruction of something created by God is called development?

It is progress when a centuries-old oak is cut down to give space for a road sign.

People need to be cautious because anything built by man can be destroyed by Mother Nature.

Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place.

The planet isn't going anywhere. We are.

One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better.

The fact that a cloud from a minor volcanic eruption in Iceland—a small disturbance in the complex mechanism of life on the Earth—can bring to a standstill the aerial traffic over an entire continent is a reminder of how, with all its power to transform nature, humankind remains just another species on the planet Earth.

A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.

If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.

Because we're not in harmony with the environment, we're destroying the environment that supports us.

If we destroy the biosphere, then mankind will die. We all waste our time worrying about stupid wars and petty jealousy and greed, and all the time, we're sitting on a time bomb.

I think the Netherlands will become one big city at a point. It is inevitable when you live in a country with so many people. You cannot afford to leave nature as it is. Some people believe that the dunes should be left in their original state, but I think it's strange to let things become how they were 500 years ago.

I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external world, but every time there's a snowstorm or drought, we know our fate is tied to the world around us.

When man decides he can control nature, he's in deep trouble.

The Fur Company may be called the exterminating medium of these wild and almost uninhabitable regions, which cupidity or the love of money alone would induce man to venture into. Where can I now go and find nature undisturbed?

I believe that the end of things man-made cannot be very far away - must be near at hand.

Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we're still at the mercy of nature.

Man is a complex animal; he makes deserts bloom and lakes die.

Agriculture changes the landscape more than anything else we do. It alters the composition of species. We don't realize it when we sit down to eat, but that is our most profound engagement with the rest of nature.

We must use the wrath of nature as our teacher.

Humans have occupied a position in nature that they should not. It is impossible for humans to conquer nature.

Only people who lack wisdom would say that a project should be pursued even if it leads to wanton destruction of forests.

As crude a weapon as the cave man's club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life - a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways. These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task no "high-minded orientation," no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper.

We cannot deny the facts of nature, but we should certainly try to improve on them.

Apart from the hostile influence of man, the organic and the inorganic world are ... bound together by such mutual relations and adaptations s secure, if not the absolute permanence and equilibrium of both ... at least a very slow and gradual succession of changes in those conditions. But man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discords.