We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.
—Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) Polish Catholic Religious Leader
If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
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
When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
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
Up until now, we have done little but complain. Until now, we have stood by, watching native habitat disappear, and with it wildlife of all types. Instead of doing something, we have come to accept our present situation as inevitable and tolerable.
—Anthony Vidler (1941–2023) English Architecture Historian, Cooper Union Dean
It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
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 Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
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
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
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
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
For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death.
—Rachel Carson (1907–64) American Naturalist, Science Writer
The ecologization of politics requires us to acknowledge the priority of human values and makes ecology part of education at an early age, molding a new, modern approach to nature and, at the same time, giving back to man a sense of being part of nature. No moral improvement of society is possible without that.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) Soviet Head of State
Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.
—Stewart Udall (1920–2010) American Politician, Conservationist
The variety of life in nature can be compared to a vast library of unread books, and the plundering of nature is comparable to the random discarding of whole volumes without having opened them, and learned from them. Our critical dependence on the great variety of nature for the progress we have already made has been amply documented. Indifference to the loss of species is, in effect, indifference to the future, and therefore a shameful carelessness about our children.
—Peter Matthiessen (1927–2014) American Naturalist, Novelist
To keep every cog and every wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.
—Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American Ecologist, Conservationist
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
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 Attorney, Politician, Diplomat
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 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
It is unfair to blame man too fiercely for being pugnacious; he learned the habit from Nature.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Journalist, Poet, Essayist
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Talk of mysteries!
Think of our life in nature,—daily to be shown matter,
to come in contact with it,—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks.
The solid earth!
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
There are many zoonotic agents in wildlife that can be passed to humans through water.
—Leon Russell (1942–2016) American Musician, Songwriter, Artist
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, Architect
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