One of the best quotes ever, Robert Traver's Testament of a Fisherman,

From:

http://www.ece.mtu.edu/faculty/schulz/testament.html
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I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are
found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where
crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all
the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social
posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to
spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an
endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout
do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by
power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience;
because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time,
and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because mercifully there
are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find
solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup
always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a
mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so
terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other
concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun.
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Where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly.

alt.flyfishing, OTOH, is a place where we can find solitude without
loneliness.

Halfordian Golfer