One of our worst traits in journalism is that when we have a narrative in our minds, we often plug in anecdotes that confirm it. Thus we managed to portray President Gerald Ford, a first-rate athlete, as a klutz.
Nicholas KristofRead
Wilderness trails constitute a rare space in America marked by economic diversity. Lawyers and construction workers get bitten by the same mosquitoes and sip from the same streams; there are none of the usual signals about socioeconomic status, for most hikers are in shorts and a T-shirt and enveloped by an aroma that would make a skunk queasy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wilderness trails bring people of different economic backgrounds together in a shared experience of nature.
In this quote, Nicholas Kristof highlights how wilderness trails create a unique environment where social and economic distinctions fade away. In the wild, individuals from diverse professions and backgrounds share the same experiences, facing the same challenges and enjoying the same beauty of nature, thus emphasizing the unifying power of the outdoors beyond societal labels and statuses.
Themes
WildernessNatureEconomic DiversityHikingShared Experience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used during a speech at a nature conservation event to highlight the importance of preserving wilderness areas.
More from Nicholas Kristof
All quotes →A basic element of the American dream is equal access to education as the lubricant of social and economic mobility.
Nicholas KristofRead
Worrying about bills, food, or other problems leaves less capacity to think ahead or to exert self-discipline. So, poverty imposes a mental tax.
Nicholas KristofRead
Most moms and dads, they want to be good moms and dads. But it's an incredibly hard job when you are stressed out, when you are poor, when your life is in chaos. And giving them some of the tools to be better parents, to whittle away at that parenting gap, gives those kids a much better starting point in life.
Nicholas KristofRead
Since the end of the 1970s, something has gone profoundly wrong in America. Inequality has soared. Educational progress slowed. Incarceration rates quintupled. Family breakdown accelerated. Median household income stagnated.
Nicholas KristofRead
The news media's silence, particularly television news, is reprehensible. If we knew as much about Darfur as we do about Michael Jackson, we might be able to stop these things from continuing.
Nicholas KristofRead
Similar quotes
I want my children and my grandchildren to live in a world with clean air, pure drinking water, and an abundance of wildlife, so I've chosen to dedicate my life to wildlife conservation so I can make the world just a little bit better.
Bindi IrwinRead
Cover me with soft earth, and let each handful be mixed With seeds ofjasmine, lilies, and myrtle; and when they Grow above me and thrive on my body's element they will Breathe the fragrance of my heart into space.
Khalil GibranRead
I see a lot of damage to Mother Earth. I see water being taken from creeks where water belongs to animals, not to oil companies.
Winona LadukeRead
Sleep, rest of nature, O sleep, most gentle of the divinities, peace of the soul, thou at whose presence care disappears, who soothest hearts wearied with daily employments, and makest them strong again for labour!
OvidRead
Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature. Necessity is the theme and inventress of nature, her curb and her eternal law.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
Nature is more like a seesaw than a crystal, a never-ending conga line of bold moves and corrections.
Diane AckermanRead