This collection of Pete’s words are also found in the “Complicated, Simple Me” book, available in the PDMS Store, pulled from various newspaper and magazine articles which quoted him as saying such.

On Animals

Quite a few of my friends tell me that I have the makings of a great veterinarian. I guess there’s just no escaping it. There are six doctors in my family and I’m still carrying on the tradition, but with a different class of patients.

On the Environment

Fouling the environment is a sin none of us can be apathetic about. Man is as much part of the earth as a tree. A tree is as basic a sight for a man as the right wife.

On the Changes He Saw Happening to Penfield

When I was kid, it was a real country town with fields and woods to play in. It was a great place to grow up in. Then they started building subdivisions. At that time there was very little interest in preserving the environment, probably because people felt that things had to change and that opposing change was opposing progress.

I was very incensed at the time. I really hated the people who bought the new houses because I thought they were responsible for the builders coming with their bulldozers and tearing up the fields I loved. [Pete regretted that it had to happen, but realized that the people who moved in couldn’t be blamed.] You can’t criticize them for wanting to move out of the city into Penciled. Actually, since it was an early development, the houses are nice. There are lots of trees, and it’s turned into a lovely community. It’s just that it isn’t a country town anymore.