I'm a humbled naturalist, living in DC via Davis CA via Botswana via Bolivia via Kenai AK.

Random quotes that make me think of iNaturalist:

"The objective is to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands. I say land rather than wildlife, because wildlife cannot be understood without understanding the landscape as a whole." Aldo Leopold in his essay, The Role of Wildlife in a Liberal Education (1942)

"...human knowledge of nature comes to us already socially constructed in powerful and productive ways...Ecology is a discourse, not the living world itself." David Demeritt (p. 177)

"The search for truth is in one way hard and in another way easy, for it is evident that no one can master it fully or miss it wholly. But each adds a little to our knowledge of nature, and from all the facts assembled there arises a certain grandeur." Aristotle (borrowed shamelessly from brewbrook's profile)

"...we are human in good part because of the particular way we affiliate with other organisms. They are the matrix in which the human mind originated and is permanently rooted, and they offer the challenge and freedom innately sought. To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untrammeled world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of reenchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious and little known organisms live within walking distance of where you sit. Splendor awaits in minute proportions." E.O. Wilson, Biophilia.

"The first step in wisdom is to know the things themselves" Carolus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae (1735).

You're welcome to contact me at my gmail address: muirmatthewj