--- title: "4 Salmon Quotes By Derrick Jensen" description: "4 Salmon quotes by Derrick Jensen. Plus more from Derrick Jensen and more Salmon sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1dd/derrick-jensen-2824_bars_when-dams-were-erected-on-the-columbia-s_137567.png" --- > [When dams were erected on the Columbia, salmon battered themselves against the concrete, trying to return home. I expect no less from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/when-dams-were-erected-on-the-columbia-salmon-battered-themselves/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1dd/derrick-jensen-2824_bars_when-dams-were-erected-on-the-columbia-s_137567.png) > [A wonderful thing happens when you give up on hope, which is that you realize you never needed it in the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give-up-on-hope-which-is-that-you/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d7/derrick-jensen-2824_assistance_a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give_225363.png) > [All we want, whether we are honeybees, salmon, trash-collecting ants, ponderosa pines, coyotes, human beings, or stars, is to love and be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-salmon-trash-collecting-ants/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd6/derrick-jensen-2824_accepted_all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-sal_255455.jpg) > [A very poor kid came up to me after a talk and said 'I want to go blow up a factory.' I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-talk-and-said-i-want-to-go-blow/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/derrick-jensen-2824_blow_a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-ta_2918313.jpg) ## Other authors on Salmon ## More by Derrick Jensen > [The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human (and nonhuman) impoverishment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/the-global-industrial-economy-is-the-engine-for-massive-environmental/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“In sum, one of the primary things I learned was how to kill time. I learned also to wish away my life. I learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/in-sum-one-of-the-primary-things-i-learned-was-how-to-kill-time-i/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“I had broken the most basic commandment of our culture: Thou shalt pretend there is nothing wrong.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/i-had-broken-the-most-basic-commandment-of-our-culture-thou-shalt/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“Someone asked me once at a talk why I so stress the positive with my students yet am such an unstinting critic of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/someone-asked-me-once-at-a-talk-why-i-so-stress-the-positive-with-my/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [If the world is presented as resources to be exploited, then, more than likely, you're going to exploit the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/if-the-world-is-presented-as-resources-to-be-exploited-then-more-than/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [It's no wonder we don't defend the land where we live. We don't live here. We live in television programs and movies and books…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/it-s-no-wonder-we-don-t-defend-the-land-where-we-live-we-don-t-live/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“ISOLATION DOES STRANGE THINGS to a person’s mind. This is true for any social creature, human or otherwise. Monkeys taken from their mothers at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/isolation-does-strange-things-to-a-person-s-mind-this-is-true-for-any/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [My great-grandmother grew up in a sod house in Nebraska. When she was a tiny girl - in other words, only four human generations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/my-great-grandmother-grew-up-in-a-sod-house-in-nebraska-when-she-was/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [Where will you drive your own picket stake? Where will you choose to make your stand? Give me a threshold, a specific point at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/where-will-you-drive-your-own-picket-stake-where-will-you-choose-to/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“So often, environmentalists and others working to slow the destruction are capable of plainly describing the problems (Who wouldn’t be? The problems are neither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/so-often-environmentalists-and-others-working-to-slow-the-destruction/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [Forests precede us and deserts dog our heels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/forests-precede-us-and-deserts-dog-our-heels/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [“The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one’s mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/the-condition-of-alienation-of-being-asleep-of-being-unconscious-of/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [So many indigenous people have said to me that the fundamental difference between Western and indigenous ways of being is that even the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/so-many-indigenous-people-have-said-to-me-that-the-fundamental/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [When dams were erected on the Columbia, salmon battered themselves against the concrete, trying to return home. I expect no less from us. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/when-dams-were-erected-on-the-columbia-salmon-battered-themselves/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) > [People say 'what do you mean' when you talk about 'bringing down civilization.' What I really mean is depriving the rich of the ability…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/people-say-what-do-you-mean-when-you-talk-about-bringing-down/) [Derrick Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derrick-jensen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salmon/derrick-jensen/#itemlist", "name": "4 Salmon Quotes By Derrick Jensen", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When dams were erected on the Columbia, salmon battered themselves against the concrete, trying to return home. I expect no less from us. We too must hurl ourselves against and through the literal and metaphorical concrete that contains and constrains us, that keeps us from talking about what is most important to us, that keeps us from living the way our bones know we can, that bars us from our home. 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You realize that giving up on hope doesn't kill you, nor did it make you less effective. In fact it made you more effective, because you ceased relying on someone or something else to solve your problems - you ceased hoping your problems somehow get solved, through the magical assistance of God, the Great Mother, the Sierra Club, valiant tree-sitters, brave salmon, or even the Earth itself - and you just began doing what's necessary to solve your problems yourself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derrick Jensen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give-up-on-hope-which-is-that-you/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d7/derrick-jensen-2824_assistance_a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give_225363.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d7/derrick-jensen-2824_assistance_a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give_225363.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d7/derrick-jensen-2824_assistance_a-wonderful-thing-happens-when-you-give_225363.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A wonderful thing happens when you give up on hope, which is that you realize you never needed it in the…” — Derrick Jensen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All we want, whether we are honeybees, salmon, trash-collecting ants, ponderosa pines, coyotes, human beings, or stars, is to love and be loved, to be accepted, cherished, and celebrated simply for being who we are. Is that so very difficult?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derrick Jensen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-salmon-trash-collecting-ants/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd6/derrick-jensen-2824_accepted_all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-sal_255455.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd6/derrick-jensen-2824_accepted_all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-sal_255455.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd6/derrick-jensen-2824_accepted_all-we-want-whether-we-are-honeybees-sal_255455.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All we want, whether we are honeybees, salmon, trash-collecting ants, ponderosa pines, coyotes, human…” — Derrick Jensen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A very poor kid came up to me after a talk and said 'I want to go blow up a factory.' I asked how old he was and he said 17. I said 'have you ever had sex?' He said 'no.' I said 'just remember if you get caught you aren't going to have sex for twenty years at least.' That's not saying that one person having sex is worth the salmon. I'm not saying it's a reason not to act, I'm saying don't be stupid.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derrick Jensen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derrick-jensen/a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-talk-and-said-i-want-to-go-blow/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/derrick-jensen-2824_blow_a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-ta_2918313.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/derrick-jensen-2824_blow_a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-ta_2918313.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/derrick-jensen-2824_blow_a-very-poor-kid-came-up-to-me-after-a-ta_2918313.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A very poor kid came up to me after a talk and said 'I want to go blow up a factory.' 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