Peter Matthiessen

“The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no meaning, they are meaning; the mountains are.”

“We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand... and melting like a snowflake.”

“And the sea bears no names. To the sea, all rivers are one.”

“Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow.”

“The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living mystery to be witnessed.”

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”

“In the Zen of gardening, the ‘I’ disappears.”

“The past is a country from which we have all emigrated.”

“The writer's job is to get the hell out of the way of the story.”

“The purpose of Zen is to find your own nature.”

“A true journey, no matter how long the travel takes, has no end.”

“In this world of quicksand, it is better to have a foothold, even if it is a ledge made of stealth.”

“The great stillness of the desert is not emptiness but a presence that is deeply felt.”

“There is a point at which curiosity becomes unbearable.”

“The great blue heron is the sacred bird of the imagination.”

“Zen is not a religion. It is a tool.”