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Quotes of the Day for 30 April 2012 – Land
At least since the development of agriculture, humans have always wanted land, as much of it as possible. On this day in 1803, Robert Livingston and James Monroe, representing the US government, signed a series of agreements committing the US to pay sixty million French francs for nearly a million square miles called Louisiana. I suspect that each of us will have to settle for smaller plots.
The quotes:
Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.
- Daniel Webster, 1782 - 1852
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.
- Desmond Tutu
We are the children of our landscape; it dictates behavior and even thought in the measure to which we are responsive to it.
- Laurence Durrell, 1912 - 1990
It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here.
- Edward Abbey, 1927 - 1989
Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.
- Colin Powell
Now, nature, as I am only too aware, has her enthusiasts, but on the whole, I am not to be counted among them. To put it bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.
- Fran Lebowitz
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