"Presently, the steam cars stop some 12 miles away from the entrance of the Yosemite. Surely, development should come no closer...If you were to realize what the result of the automobile will be in that wonderful, that incomparable valley, you will keep it out."
- James Bryce, British Ambassador to the U.S., 1912

"The national park is the best idea America ever had."
- James Bryce, British Ambassador to the U.S., 1912

"I've been through legislation creating a dozen national parks, and there's always the same pattern. When you first propose a park, and you visit the area and present the case to the local people, they threaten to hang you. You go back in five years and they think it's the greatest thing that ever happened."
- Morris Udall, Too Funny to be President, 1988