Marjory Stoneman Douglas Quotes

“I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“You have to stand up for some things in this world.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“The wealth of south Florida, but even more important, the meaning and significance of south Florida lies in the black muck of the Everglades and the inevitable development of this country to be the great tropic agricultural center of the world.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“I'm just a tough old woman.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth; remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them.

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“All we need, really, is a change from a near frigid to a tropical attitude of mind.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“There is always the need to carry on.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Conservation is now a dead word.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Child welfare ought really to cover all sorts of topics, such as better water and sanitation and good roads, and clean streets and public parks and playgrounds.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“I take advantage of every thing I can - age, hair, disability - because my cause is just.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Whoever wants me to talk, I'll come over and tell them about the necessity of preserving the Everglades.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“The miracle of light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slowly moving, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades. It is a river of grass.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“To be a friend of the Everglades is not necessarily to spend time wandering around out there.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

They are unique in the simplicity, the diversity, the related harmony of the forms of life that they enclose.

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“No matter how poor my eyes are I can still talk.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Sometimes, I tell them more than they wanted to know.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Since 1972, I've been going around making speeches on the Everglades.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“The problem of the environment is the extension of good housekeeping of the thinking woman.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“You can't conserve what you haven't got.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

I'll talk about the Everglades at the drop of a hat.

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“I wanted to go to a good college, and my mind was set on Wellesley.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“It's a little bit late in the day for men to object that women are getting outside their proper sphere.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“I feel greatly at fault in not having made a loud public protest about Belle Glade before this.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“No one is satisfied with their life's work.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“There must be progress, certainly. But we must ask ourselves what kind of progress we want, and what price we want to pay for it. If, in the name of progress, we want to destroy everything beautiful in our world, and contaminate the air we breathe, and the water we drink, then we are in trouble.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“There is nothing inherently wrong with a brain in your nineties. If you keep it fed and interested, you'll find it lasts you very well.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“Elizabeth Rothra's excellent biography of Charles Torrey Simpson restates his philosophies about the intrinsic value of natural ecosystems like the Everglades. No one knew better than he the history of the plants and animals of South Florida or conveyed it with more humor and enthusiasm.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“It is a woman's business to be interested in the environment. It's an extended form of housekeeping.”

— Marjory Stoneman Douglas