One summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will.
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Through all these new, imaginative, and creative approaches to the problem of sharing our earth with other creatures there runs a constant theme, the awareness that we are dealing with life with living populations and all their pressures and counter pressures, their surges and recessions. Only by taking account of such life forces and by cautiously seeking to guide them into channels favorable to ourselves can we hope to achieve a reasonable accommodation between the insect hordes and ourselves. The current vogue for poisons has failed utterly to take into account these most fundamental considerations. 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. The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man. The concepts and practices of applied entomology for the most part date from that Stone Age of science. It is our alarming misfortune that so primitive a science has armed itself with the most modem and terrible weapons, and that in turning them against the insects it has also turned them against the earth.
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Beginnings are apt to be shadowy and so it is the beginnings of the great mother life, the sea.
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No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.
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The closest thing to Roseanne Barr's singing the national anthem was my cat being neutered.
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The difference between a divorce and a legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money
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The difference between divorce and legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money
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I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing.
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If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
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There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide.
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For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it is a pity that you use it so little.
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For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.
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Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
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The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.
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Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creatureevery act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity.
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The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
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He's so fat, he can be his own running mate.
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The discipline of the writer is to learn to be still and listen to what his subject has to tell him.
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If variety is the spice of life, marriage is the big can of leftover Spam
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No more angels, No more dreams, Only rain and wind, The coldness of steel. The end of my Chapter, But the story goes on, Pages turned and forgotten, I'll read yours when I'm gone. No glory in death, No heaven or hell, Just a void which is empty, Where nothingness dwells.
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Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.
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In all honesty, Johnny, we are often at the mercy of the White House for the news we report. Frequently, we simply repeat verbatim what the White House tells us.
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The Hollywood tradition I like best is called 'sucking up to the stars.'
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Married men live longer than single men. But married men are a lot more willing to die
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'Your chances of getting hit by lightning go up if you stand under a tree, shake your fist at the sky and say 'Storms suck!'.
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For days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow, but phone calls taper off.
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My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.
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Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: 'Are you ready?' by Johnny Carson
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If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners.
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I know you've been married to the same woman for 69 years. That is marvelous. It must be very inexpensive
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