[N]ow we have a clearer idea what this story is all about: T... - Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

"If the world was made for us, then it BELONGS to us and we can do what we damn well please with it."

"The obvious can sometimes be illuminating when perceived in an unhabitual way."

"No one species shall make the life of the world its own.' … That's one expression of the law. Here's another: 'The world was not made for any one species."

"The premise of the Taker story is 'the world belongs to man'. … The premise of the Leaver story is 'man belongs to the world'."

"The mythology of your culture hums in your ears so constantly that no one pays the slightest bit of attention to it. Of course man is conquering space and the atom and the deserts and the oceans and the elements. According to your mythology, this is what he was BORN to do."