Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet oft — Derrick Jensen

"Much was made by abolitionists that the King James version of the Bible didnt use the word slaves, but, instead, servants. This meant, in their minds, that God didnt really approve of slavery. But that argument was linguistic at best. Slavery was codified and even sanctified in the tenth commandment, throwing slaves (and wives) in with other property belonging to ones neighbor that one must not covet. The Bible even regulated--as opposed to banning outright--the killing of slaves, stating that if a slave were beaten to death, the slave owner should be punished (though not killed himself, as would be his fate were he to kill a freeman), but if the slave didnt die until a day or two after the beating, the slave owner "shall not be punished, for he [the slave] is his money."

"A very poor kid came up to me after a talk and said I want to go blow up a factory. I asked how old he was and he said 17. I said have you ever had sex? He said no. I said just remember if you get caught you arent going to have sex for twenty years at least. Thats not saying that one person having sex is worth the salmon. Im not saying its a reason not to act, Im saying dont be stupid."

"Jeanette [Armstrong, "a traditional Okanagan Indian"] said, Attitudes about the species communication are the primary difference between western and indigenous philosophies. Even the most progressive western philosophers still generally believe that listening to the land is a metaphor. She paused, then continued emphatically, Its not a metaphor. Its how the world is."

"Ive never written this before in public, but my first thought on September 11 when I heard someone was attacking the World Trade Center is, Ah, so now it begins. Someone is finally fighting back. Given the terror that the United States routinely inflicts on people (including nonhumans, of course) the world over (and of course now a couple of years later the United States calls these programs of systematic terror Shock and Awe), Im surprised it didnt happen long ago. The poor have been very patient and long suffering, more patient and long suffering than anyone could ever expect. That is what I thought."

"I want to bring down civilization. Its really clear that civilization is killing the planet. I’m interested in living in a world that has more wild salmon every year than the year before. A world that has more migratory songbirds every year than the year before. A world that has less dioxins and flame retardants in mothers breast milk. A world not being destroyed. A world where krill populations aren’t collapsing. A world where there are not dead zones in the oceans. A world not being systematically dismantled. I want to live in a world that is not being killed. I will do whatever it takes to get there."

"I am in this same river. I cant much help it. I admit it: Im racist. The other night I saw a group (or maybe a pack?) or white teenagers standing in a vacant lot, clustered around a 4x4, and I crossed the street to avoid them; had they been black, I probably would have taken another street entirely. And Im misogynistic. I admit that, too. Im a shitty cook, and a worse house cleaner, probably in great measure because Ive internalized the notion that these are womans work. Of course, I never admit thats why I dont do them: I always say I just dont much enjoy those activities (which is true enough; and its true enough also that many women dont enjoy them either), and in any case, Ive got better things to do, like write books and teach classes where I feel morally superior to pimps. And naturally I value money over life. Why else would I own a computer with a hard drive put together in Thailand by women dying of job-induced cancer? Why else would I own shirts made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh, and shoes put together in Mexico? The truth is that, although many of my best friends are people of color (as the cliche goes), and other of my best friends are women, I am part of this river: I benefit from the exploitation of others, and I do not much want to sacrifice this privilege. I am, after all, civilized, and have gained a taste for "comforts and elegancies" which can be gained only through the coercion of slavery. The truth is that like most others who benefit from this deep and broad river, I would probably rather die (and maybe even kill, or better, have someone kill for me) than trade places with the men, women, and children who made my computer, my shirt, my shoes."

"Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost."

"Do not go to the garden of flowers! O Friend! go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty."

"All the men shes been with and now you, just you, and the barges going by, masts and hulls, the whole damned current of life flowing through you, through her, through all the guys behind you and after you, the flowers and the birds and the sun streaming in and the fragrance of it choking you, annihilating you."

"In search of my Love I will go over mountains and strands; I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts; And pass by the mighty and the frontiers. ~ 3"

"Some of the same people who were instrumental in the Federalist Society’s effort to change our legal system are now working to help corporations increase their control over the flow of information. If you control the flow of information, you can control the conversation around important issues. If you can control the conversation, you can change this country. … But we can’t be satisfied with stopping conservatives and their corporate clients from controlling the narrative when it comes to our legal system. We have to fight back with our own. In our narrative, the legal system doesn’t exist to help the powerful grow more powerful – it exists to guarantee that every American is entitled to justice In our narrative, we defend our individual rights and liberties against corporate encroachment just as fiercely as we defend them against government overreach."

"[standing in an ornamental flowerbed] What an incredible Cinderella story! This unknown, comes out of nowhere, to lead the pack at Augusta. Hes at the final hole. Hes about 455 yards away, hes gonna hit about a 2-iron, I think. [swings, pulverizes a flower] Oh, he got all of that. The crowd is standing on its feet here at Augusta. The normally reserved Augusta crowd is going wild... [pauses] for this young Cinderella whos come out of nowhere. Hes got about 350 yards left, hes going to hit about a 5-iron, it looks like, dont you think? Hes got a beautiful backswing... [swings, pulverizes another flower] thats- oh, he got all of that one! Hes gotta be pleased with that! The crowd is just on its feet here. Hes a Cinderella boy. Tears in his eyes, I guess, as he lines up this last shot. Hes got about 195 yards left, and hes got a, looks like hes got about an 8-iron. This crowd has gone deadly silent... Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become the Masters champion. [swings, pulverizes yet another flower] It looks like a mirac- its in the hole! Its in the hole!"