Words of Wisdom
for Accotink Creek

"GET YOUR BRAIN WET!"
- Liz Kirchner

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." – John Muir

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration." – Claude Monet

"Let nature be your teacher." – William Wordsworth

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave." – Native American proverb

"In wildness is the preservation of the world." – Henry David Thoreau

"I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." — Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

"The weight of plastic finding its way into the sea each year is estimated to be equivalent to the weight of 40 aircraft carriers." - Edward Humes, author of Garbology,

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." – William Shakespeare

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home. - Gary Snyder

"If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere." – Vincent Van Gogh

"We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." – Native American proverb

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." – Albert Einstein

"To the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself." – William Blake

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” - Robert Swan

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Stewardship is an ethos of accepting our duty of responsibility to our country, to the community of life, and to the future." - Accotink motto

"I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright." – Henry David Thoreau

"The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now." – Reedy Creek Coalition

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King

"Think beyond ourselves. Think multiple generations.” – Kirk Kincannon

"We must leave our woods, waters and wildlife better than we found them, and we must dedicate ourselves to inspiring others to do the same." - Jack Lorenz, Izaak Walton League

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not." – The Lorax

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." - George Bernard Shaw

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time, they just have the heart.” - Elizabeth Andrew

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today" - Abraham Lincoln

"In every walk with Nature, one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir

"Everyone is qualified to save the planet." - Wangari Maathai

"Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their watershed." - Accotink motto

"There is no Second Nature. Help save the only one we've got." - The Nature Conservancy

"For if one link in nature's chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish piecemeal." - Thomas Jefferson

"Last year, the US used enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the world over 190 times." - Brita.com (How many of them ended up in Accotink Creek?)

"We never know the worth of water until the well is dry." - Thomas Fuller

"Don't thank us - join us." - Accotink motto

"If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants we would create the equivalent of a 20 million acre national park - nine times bigger than Yellowstone, or 100 times bigger than Shenandoah National Park." - Dr. Doug Tallamy

"All these things are ours as long as we cherish them and guard them against destruction." - Mark Trail

“Each of us leaves behind tracks and shadows, but inevitably they fade and we end up one with the water and the rocks.” – Harry Greene

"Consider the cost to engineer a water amenity like Accotink Creek compared to the cost of preserving what nature has blessed us with." - Donald Pless

“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” – Sherry Anderson

Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy. - Psalms 98:8

“The Lord rejoices in all his works.” - Psalms 104:31

"But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream." - Amos 5:24

Primum non nocere "First, do no harm."

“Every time there is a compromise, the loser is wildlife.” - Peter Murrow

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” - John Kennedy

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure some of them are dirt." - John Muir

"Our beautiful world, pass it on" - values.com

"Think like a mountain" - Aldo Leopold

"Nature needs you all year round." - The Nature Conservancy

"Everything flows downstream..." - Potomac Riverkeeper

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” -Marcel Proust

“Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A culture is no better than its woods." - Wystan Hugh Auden

"Dominion over nature is a gift which has been given us yoked to the trust for its preservation." - Accotink motto

"Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do." - Montaigne

"The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature." - Zeno

“The Earth has music for those who listen.” – George Santayana

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” - Aldo Leopold

“Many have lived without love, none have lived without water.” - Turkish proverb

“One must care about a world one will not see.” - Bertrand Russell

"The Earth's a drop of water." - Keiko Matsui

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come." - Chinese proverb

"Don't leave the planet to the stupid." - The Solon Group

"Water is the driving force of all nature." - Leonardo da Vinci

"Read nature; nature is a friend to truth." - Edward Young

"Lose yourself in nature and find peace." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth." - Chief Seattle

"If you're not squalling like a smashed cat, you're not doing your job." - Terry Grosz, FWS Agent

“I was born upon thy bank, river, my blood flows in thy stream,
And thou meanderest forever at the bottom of my dream.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Let us have a splendid legacy for our children . . . let us turn to them and say 'this you inherit and guard it well, for it is far more precious than money . . . and once it is destroyed, nature's beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.” — Ansel Adams

"Find just one other person who cares."
- D. Harris Murphy, Founder, Friends of Accotink Creek