You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
To waste and destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
An understanding of the Natural World and whats in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.
—David Attenborough (b.1926) English Naturalist, Broadcaster
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
—Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American Ecologist, Conservationist
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
—Barack Obama (b.1961) American Head of State, Academic, Politician, Author
For if one link in nature’s chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish piecemeal.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
To keep every cog and every wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.
—Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American Ecologist, Conservationist
Execution is really the critical part of a successful strategy. Getting it done, getting it done right, getting it done better than the next person is far more important than dreaming up new visions of the future. All of the great companies in the world out-execute their competitors day in and day out in the marketplace, in their manufacturing plants, in their logistics, in their inventory turns—in just about everything they do. Rarely do great companies have a proprietary position that insulates them from the constant hand-to-hand combat of competition.
—Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (b.1942) American Businessman
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
It is unfair to blame man too fiercely for being pugnacious; he learned the habit from Nature.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I do not know what compassionate conservative means. Does it mean cutting kids out of after school programs, Does it mean drilling in the arctic wildlife refuge? Does it mean sending kids to Iraq without body armor that is state of the art?
—John Kerry (b.1943) American Politician, Diplomat
The earth laughs in flowers.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A country is known by the way it treats its animals.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
And find that dark, too blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet, and dark wings.
—Wendell Berry (b.1934) American Poet, Novelist, Environmentalist
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that really matter.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical… Any man who for one moment abandons or suspends the questioning spirit has for that moment betrayed humanity.
—Bergen Evans
Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.
—E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) American Sociobiologist
I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use our natural resources, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Political Liberty consists in the power of doing whatever does not injure another. The exercise of the natural rights of every [human], has no other limits than those which are necessary to secure to every other [human] the free exercise of the same rights.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor