William Beebe

“When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”

“In a world which is being covered with concrete and steel and tarmac, the value of a wilderness is rising all the time.”

“I have given my life to the study of grotesquely beautiful birds.”

“A jungle is a vast, tangled, complex world of its own.”

“A first-hand knowledge of the great wilderness is one of the most important assets of any man.”

“I felt the lure of the jungle, and the lure of the distant unknown.”

“The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living.”

“The only other place comparable to these marvelous nether regions, must surely be naked space itself.”

“To be a Naturalist is better than to be a King.”

“You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.”

“The very essence of our life is this constant wooing of the unseen.”

“I am not a scientist. I am a naturalist. I am a lover of beauty. I am a lover of life.”

“The urge to explore, to discover, to ‘see what is on the other side of the hill,’ is as old as humanity itself.”

“Many of the greatest things in life are unseen and unheard, and must be sought for.”

“What a wonderful thing it is to be alive! To be able to see and hear and feel and think.”