I like animals. I like natural history. The travel bit is not the important bit. The travel bit is what you have to do in order to go and look at animals.

I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral.

To correct a natural indifference I was placed half-way between misery and the sun. Misery kept me from believing that all was well under the sun and the sun taught me that history wasn't everything.

As founder and co-chair of the upper Mississippi River Congressional task force I have long sought to preserve the river's health and historical multiple uses including as a natural waterway and a home to wildlife for the benefit of future generations of Americans.

When elected officials abandon our environment and ruin our natural resources public health is endangered. I know the importance of providing a clean environment for our children I have attended more than one funeral for a child who has died from an asthma attack.

Better understanding of the natural world not only enhances all of us as human beings but can also be harnessed for the better good leading to improved health and quality of life.

Whenever I write about mental health and integrative therapies I am accused of being prejudiced against pharmaceuticals. So let me be clear - integrative medicine is the judicious application of both conventional and evidence-based natural therapies.

From the Taoist point of view the natural result of this harmonious way of living is happiness.

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt.

Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us. The most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.