I seek acquaintance with nature, I take infinite pains to know all
the phenomena
of spring, for instance, thinking that I have the entire poem, and then,
to my
chagrin, I learn that it is but an imperfect copy that I possess, that
my ancestors
have torn out many of the first leaves and grandest passages, and mutilated
it in
many places. I should not like to think that some demigod had come before
me
and picked out some of the best stars. I wish to know an entire heaven
and an
entire earth. Henry David Thoreau
Conservation
