Joyce Maynard Quotes

As a child and young adult, I delighted in being able to identify almost any wild plant or animal.

I want to get people to connect to the outdoors.

I've often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you're not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You're... sometimes... they're gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.

My plan growing up was to leave home and try not to panic. I always knew that to strive to be self-sufficient was an important ambition.

Leave part of the yard rough. Don't manicure everything. Small children in particular love to turn over rocks and find bugs, and give them some space to do that. Take your child fishing. Take your child on hikes.

For a long time all I wanted for Christmas were books about outdoor survival. I was convinced that the woods were calling me. I camped a lot, I took classes. At 18, I told myself if I don't live in the woods by myself by the time I'm 25, I have failed.

My costar James Lafferty, and his little brother Stuart Lafferty, and another buddy of ours, Ian Shive, are working on this project called 'Generation Wild.' It's about getting people to realize that being outdoors is not scary - you can go on adventures like we do, in national parks, and practically in your own backyard.

You want to create your own path, no matter what situation you're in.

Over the years, with hunting, I think what's become my favorite part of hunting is how self-sufficient I'm becoming.

I was an only child so, at home, I'm turnt up by myself, doing whatever I wanna do.

I am my own home, and my handkerchief is my flag.

At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self. Some come to realize this after they are in the nursing home.

When you're alone, it's easier," she said a little wistfully. "You can do what you want. You don't have to go home.

Self-sufficiency, independence, the capacity to stand apart, to differ, to resist, and to defy-all are modes of being human.

We took special pride in the fact that climbing rocks and icefalls had no economic value in society...We were like a wild species living in the edges of an ecosystem - adaptable, resilient and tough.

I just needed to get out on my own, live my own life. And I did, and it's great.

You cannot friend a hawk, they said, unless you are a hawk yourself, alone and only a sojourner in the land, without friends or the need of them.

She knows where she's going, and what she has to do. She could, after all, find her way to Route 95 South blindfolded. She could do it in the dark, in fair weather or foul; she can do it even when it seems she will run out of gas. It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.

She would not exchange her solitude for anything. Never again to be forced to move to the rhythms of others.

My bike is my gym, my wheelchair, and my church all in one.

I now derive physical and spiritual pleasure from gardening and there is tremendous satisfaction in knowing that I could survive almost anywhere if I had to.

To remain alone did not seem to me a terrible fate, no worse than being falsely joined to another person.

My job is my own only land.

Home is a place where we all do as we please - usually regardless of the others.