“There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs,

but it doesn't stop people from going out and buying Dobermans.”

I have always been unsatisfied with life as most people live it.

Always I want to live more intensely and richly.

Why muck and conceal one's true longings and loves,

when by speaking of them one might find someone to understand them,

and by acting on them one might discover oneself?
I have not tired of the wilderness;

rather I enjoy its beauty and the vagrant life I lead, more keenly all the time.

I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof,

the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown to any paved highway,

and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities.

Everett Ruess