William Ruckelshaus Quotations

It occurred to me when I was thirteen and wearing white gloves and Mary Janes and going to dancing school, that no one should have to dance backward all their lives.

No one should have to dance backward all of their lives.

Why argue about things you can't prove?

The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.

We need to fashion policies with proper incentives to reduce the amount of carbon we are putting in the atmosphere.

I have no hostility towards men. Some of my best friends are men. I married a man, and my father was a man.

The family is the building block for whatever solidarity there is in society.

Industries and businesses that must operate in the marketplace of free choice know that they must change, they must adapt, they must accommodate to changes in public attitudes-or they will surely die.

You go into a community and they will vote 80 percent to 20 percent in favor of a tougher Clean Air Act, but if you ask them to devote 20 minutes a year to having their car emissions inspected, they will vote 80 to 20 against it. We are a long way in this country from taking individual responsibility for the environmental problem.

There are all kinds of things we can do right now, and we ought to be taking those steps.