“Two voices summon men with a call so imperative that few who hear clearly can resist. One is the voice of religion, which bids us abandon all mundane pursuits and seek holiness, God, and life everlasting. The other is the voice of nature, which invites us to fill our spirits with its beauty and wonder and challenges us to disclose some of its closely hidden secrets. Obeying either of these voices, we may neglect nearly everything that prudent men esteem and strenuously seek: wealth, security, solid comfort, and social status. We may even abandon family, friends, and homeland to follow the call into a wilderness where perils lurk.” – Alexander F. Skutch, The Imperative Call
“We will travel as far as we can, but we cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or learn all that we hunger to know.” – Loren Eiseley, The Immense Divide
“Birding is the best and most exciting pursuit in the world, a gloriously neverending one, and the whole experience of a foreign trip, whether you see 10 new birds or 500, is simply too good to miss.” – Phoebe Snetsinger