Richard Louv Quotes

61 Sourced Quotes

Nature-the sublime, the harsh, and the beautiful-offers something that the street or gated community or computer game cannot. Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are; it offers an environment where they can easily contemplate infinity and eternity.

Richard Louv
A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field.

Richard Louv
Numerous studies document the benefits to students from school grounds that are ecologically diverse and include free play areas, habitats for wildlife, walking trails, and gardens.

Richard Louv
All spiritual life begins with a sense of wonder, and nature is a window into that wonder.

Richard Louv
The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between the front yard and the road-all of these places are entire universes to a young child.

Richard Louv
Reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health, well-being, spirit, and survival.

Richard Louv
This tree house became our galleon, our spaceship, our Fort Apache...Ours was a learning tree. Through it we learned to trust ourselves and our abilities.

Richard Louv
We can conserve energy and tread more lightly on the Earth while we expand our culture's capacity for joy.

Richard Louv
American family life has never been particularly idyllic. In the nineteenth century, nearly a quarter of all children experienced the death of one of their parents.... Not until the sixties did the chief cause of separation of parents shift from death to divorce.

Richard Louv
Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and therefore, for learning and creativity.

Richard Louv
There is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy.

Richard Louv
Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty.

Richard Louv
What would our lives be like if our days and nights were as immersed in nature as they are in technology?

Richard Louv
We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see. Or hear. Or sense.

Richard Louv
Each of us-adult or child-must earn nature's gift by knowing nature directly, however difficult it may be to glean that knowledge in an urban environment.

Richard Louv
We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past--the portrayals of family life on such television programs as "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" and all the rest.

Richard Louv
Here is the beginning of understanding: most parents are doing their best, and most children are doing their best, and they're doing pretty well, all things considered.

Richard Louv
The times I spent with my children in nature are among my most meaningful memories-and I hope theirs.

Richard Louv
What happens when all the parts of childhood are soldered down, when the young no longer have the time or space to play in their family's garden, cycle home in the dark with the stars and moon illuminating their route, walk down through the woods to the river, lie on their backs on hot July days in the long grass, or watch cockleburs, lit by morning sun, like bumblees quivering on harp wires? What then?

Richard Louv
To take nature and natural play away from children may be tantamount to withholding oxygen.

Richard Louv
Natural play strengthens children's self-confidence and arouses their senses-their awareness of the world and all that moves in it, seen and unseen.

Richard Louv
If we desire a kinder nation, seeing it through the eyes of children is an eminently sensible endeavor: A city that is pro-child,for example, is also a more humane place for adults.

Richard Louv
Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span.

Richard Louv
By letting our children lead us to their own special places we can rediscover the joy and wonder of nature.

Richard Louv
I do not mean to imply that the good old days were perfect. But the institutions and structure--the web--of society needed reform,not demolition. To have cut the institutional and community strands without replacing them with new ones proved to be a form of abuse to one generation and to the next. For so many Americans, the tragedy was not in dreaming that life could be better; the tragedy was that the dreaming ended.

Richard Louv
Most people are either awakened to or are strengthened in their spiritual journey by experiences in the natural world.

Richard Louv
As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature.

Richard Louv
Stress reduction, greater physical health, a deeper sense of spirit, more creativity, a sense of play, even a safer life-these are the rewards that await a family then it invites more nature into children's lives.

Richard Louv
In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.

Richard Louv
Something else was different when we were young: our parents were outdoors. I'm not saying they were joining health clubs and things of that sort, but they were out of the house, out on the porch, talking to neighbors. As far as physical fitness goes, today's kids are the sorriest generation in the history of the United States. Their parents may be out jogging, but the kids just aren't outside.

Richard Louv