Ellsworth Huntington

“The buffalo is a surprisingly stupid animal.”

“Year by year we are learning that in this restless, strenuous American life of ours vacations are essential.”

“Although mountains may guide migrations, the plains are the regions where people dwell in greatest numbers.”

“From first to last the civilization of America has been bound up with its physical environment.”

“For the source of any characteristic so widespread and uniform as this adaptation to environment we must go back to the very beginning of the human race.”

“As a matter of fact, an ordinary desert supports a much greater variety of plants than does either a forest or a prairie.”

“The evidence points to central Asia as man's original home, for the general movement of human migrations has been outward from that region and not inward.”

“No part of the world can be truly understood without a knowledge of its garment of vegetation, for this determines not only the nature of the animal inhabitants but also the occupations of the majority of human beings.”

“Except on their southern borders the great northern forests are not good as a permanent home for man.”

“According to the now almost universally accepted theory, all the races of mankind had a common origin.”

“Fertile soil, level plains, easy passage across the mountains, coal, iron, and other metals imbedded in the rocks, and a stimulating climate, all shower their blessings upon man.”

“Again and again, to be sure, on the way to America, and under many other circumstances, man has passed through the most adverse climates and has survived, but he has flourished and waxed strong only in certain zones.”

“A journey of four hundred and thirty miles can be made in any part of the United States, but in Turkey it takes as many days.”

“The Negro, however, has been tested on an extensive scale.”