My Side Of The Mountain Quotes
"I would live by a waterfall in the woods and catch fish on hooks made from the forks of tree limbs, as I had been taught by my father."
"Wisely, my mother did not try to dissuade me."
"It is one thing to wish to go, and another matter to do it."
"Better to run to the woods than the city, I thought. Here, there is the world to occupy the mind."
"My voice never got very far. It was hushed by the tons of snow."
"I knew I had enough food. I knew everything was going to be perfectly all right. But knowing that didn’t help. I was scared."
"The sun has a wonderfully glorious habit of rising every morning."
"I was immediately cheered, and set out directly for the highway."
"The library didn’t open until ten-thirty. I got there at nine."
"I have since learned to cook it more, but never have I enjoyed a meal as much as that one, and never have I felt so independent again."
"I must have reaped every last strawberry before she stood up, put her arm in mine and escorted me down the mountain."
"I waited for the falcon patiently. I didn’t have to go anywhere."
"The falcons came in from behind me and circled the stream. They were feeding young, and I was somewhere near the nest."
"When I thought I was stuck, I found a little ledge and shinnied up to it."
"I looked up to see how much higher I had to go when my hand touched something moist. I pulled it back and saw that it was white—bird droppings."
"I scrambled to the riverbed somehow, being very careful not to hurt the hot fuzzy body that was against my own."
"When I awoke my eyes opened on two gray eyes in a white stroobly head."
"Oh, Frightful," I said, "you are a raving beauty."
"The more you stroke and handle a falcon, the easier they are to train."
"September blazed a trail into the mountains. First she burned the grasses. The grasses seeded and were harvested by the mice and the winds."
"The snow and the cold and the long lifeless months are ahead."
"Everything in the forest was getting prepared for the harsh months."
"My line jerked and I sat up to pull, but was too late."
"I ran after him and chased him up the mountain."
"I whistled and whistled and whistled until my mouth was dry."
"Frightful was not absolutely necessary for my survival; but I was now so fond of her."
"I shouted, 'Stop laughing!' and he vanished like a magician’s handkerchief."
"Hunters are excellent friends if used correctly."
"I thought of all the ash cans I had knocked over on the streets of New York."
"The fire would burn itself out and I would be asleep."
"Sometimes when the wind howled and the snows blew, the chickadees would be out for only a few hours."
"My deerskin rabbit-lined suit was so warm that even when my breath froze in my nostrils, my body was snug and comfortable."
"I began to plan for a very small Christmas with Frightful."
"I was so glad to see him that I hugged him and pounded him on the back."
"Well, son, I’ve been reading about you in the papers and I could no longer resist the temptation to visit you."
"To be relaxed, warm, and part of the winter wilderness is an unforgettable experience."
"There is no such thing as a 'still winter night.'"
"Hunger is a funny thing. It has a kind of intelligence all its own."
"Some men climbed Mount Everest because it was there. Here is a wilderness."
"The falcon takes the sky, the white-throated sparrow takes the low bushes, the skunk takes the earth, you take the newspaper office, I take the woods."
"There are people in the city who are lonelier than I."
"Let’s face it, Thoreau; you can’t live in America today and be quietly different. If you are going to be different, you are going to stand out, and people are going to hear about you."
"If he doesn’t want to come home, then we will bring home to him."
"I was self-sufficient, I could travel the world over, never needing a penny, never asking anything of anyone."
"Keeping an endangered species carries a fine and a year’s imprisonment."
"A bird must be part of the landscape and sky to be complete."