Heroes:
Here are some quotes that I admire:
AUTHOR
QUOTES
Edward Abbey
"The idea of wilderness needs
no defense, it only needs defenders."
Louisa May Alcott
"Far away in
the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can
look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they
lead."
William Blake
"To see a world in a grain of
sand and a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German
Theologian
"The ultimate test of a moral
society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."
Buddha - Siddhartha Gautama
The Buddha teaches this triple
truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and
compassion are the things which renew humanity.
Edmund Burke
No man made a greater mistake
than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
Edmond Burke
"All that is needed for the
forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing."
Frances Hodgson Burnett
At first people refuse to
believe that a strange new thing can be done. Then they begin to hope it can
be done. Then they see it can be done. Then it is done and all the world
wonders why it was not done centuries ago.
George Carlin
"Every sixty
seconds, thirty acres of rain forest are destroyed in order to raise beef
for fast food restaurants that sell it to people, giving them strokes and
heart attacks, which raise medical costs and insurance rates, providing
insurance companies with more money to invest in large corporations that
branch out further into the Third World so they can destroy more rain
forests."
Tao Te Ching
"Whatever is flexible and
flowing will tend to grow, whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and
die."
Deepak Chopra
"Every cell in your body is
seeking fulfillment through joy, beauty, love and appreciation."
Carol Christensen, Making It
Happen
"When it comes to the future,
there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it
happen, and those who wonder what happened."
Eldridge Cleaver
"If you are not part of the
solution, you are part of the problem."
The Dalai Lama
It is our collective and
individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family, to
support its weaker members and to preserve and tend to the environment in
which we all live.
The Dalai Lama
Be a good human being, a
warm-hearted, affectionate person. That is my fundamental belief.
The Dalai Lama
Because we all share this
small planet Earth, we have to live in harmony and peace with each other and
with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.
The Dalai Lama
My religion is very simple. My
religion is kindness.
The Dalai Lama
Through training there is
knowledge. You can produce compassion, love, forgiveness. you can change
yourself.
The Dalai Lama
I always believed in love,
compassion, and a sense of universal respect. Every human being has that
potential.
Baba Dioum
"In the end we will conserve
only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand
only what we are taught."
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
"There must be progress,
certainly. But we must ask ourselves what kind of progress we want, and what
price we want to pay for it. If, in the name of progress, we want to destroy
everything beautiful in our world, and contaminate the air we breathe, and
the water we drink, then we are in trouble."
Albert Einstein
"We cannot solve the problems
that we have created with the same thinking that created them."
Albert Einstein
Great spirits have always
encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein
"Our task must be to free
ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."
Albert Einstein
"Only two
things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure
about the former."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"To laugh often and much, to
win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn
the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit
better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social
condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded!"
Harvey Fierstien
Accept no one's definition of
your life, but define yourself.
Benjamin Franklin
They [who]
can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety.
Robert Frost
"Something we were withholding
made us weak until we found it was ourselves."
Mahatma Gandhi
"You must be the change you
want to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi
"The things that will destroy
us are: Politics without principle; Pleasure without conscience; Wealth
without work; Knowledge without character; Business without morality;
Science without humanity, And worship without sacrifice."
Mahatma Gandhi
What we are doing to the
forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to
ourselves and to one another.
Mahatma Gandhi
"It is the action and not the
fruit of the action that matters. You must do what is right. Maybe it is not
in your power, not in your time that fruits will be borne. However this does
not mean that you must cease doing what is right. You may never know the
result of your action but if you do nothing, there will not be any result at
all".
Goethe
He is the happiest, be he king
or peasant who finds peace in his house.
Dr. Jane Goodall
"Only if we understand can we care. Only if we
care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved."
"Father of the Blues"
Alabamian W.C. Handy
"You'll never miss the water
'til the well runs dry."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"If you love someone, the
greatest gift you can give them is your presence."
Thich Nhat Hanh
When we enter the present
moment deeply, our regrets and sorrows disappear, and we discover life with
all its wonders.
Ivan Illich
"In a consumer society there
are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the
prisoners of envy."
Great Law of the Iroquois
Confederacy
In our every deliberation we
must consider the impact of the next seven generations.
B.K.S. Iyengar
Mind is the king of the
senses. He who has conquered his mind, senses, passion, thought and reason
is king among men.
Thomas
Jefferson in a letter to James Madison
The
earth belongs to the living. No man by natural right obliges the lands he
owns or occupies to debts greater than those that may be paid during his own
lifetime.
Robert F. Kennedy
"Fear not the path of truth
for the lack of people walking on it."
Kenyan Proverb
"Treat the Earth well. It was
not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children."
Jack Kornfield
In the end these things matter
most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you
learn to let go?"
Martin Luther King Jr.
"I have a dream that one day
this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
"
Dalai Lama, Let the Mountains
Talk, Let the Rivers Run
"The solution to the
population problem is more monks."
Aldo Leopold
"A thing is right when it
tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
Aldo Leopold
"We abuse the 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."
Charles A. Lindbergh
"In wilderness I sense the
miracle of life."
Luther Standing Bear (Oglala
Sioux Chief)
" Only to
the white man was nature a wilderness and only to him was the land infested
with wild animals and savage people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful
and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. "
Marya Mannes, "A Word to the
Wizards"
It is not enough to show
people how to live better; there is a mandate for any group with enormous
powers of communication to show how to be better.
Margaret Mead
"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
"Earth Day is the first holy
day...and is devoted to the harmony of nature... The celebration offends no
historical calendar, yet it transcends them all."
Claude Monet
"I have no other wish than a
close fusion with nature and I desire no other fate than to have worked and
lived in harmony with her laws."
John Muir
"Whenever we try to pick out
anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
Pope John Paul II
"Modern Society will find no
solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its
lifestyles."
Plato
"The penalty good people pay
for not being interested in politics is to be governed by people worse than
themselves."
Albert Schweitzer
"Until he extends his circle
of compassion to include all living things, man will not, himself, find
peace."
Chief Seattle
"What is man without the
beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness
of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All
things are connected."
Chief Seattle
"This we know: the earth does
not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like
blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a
strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."
Larry Scherwitz
"Listen with regard when
others talk. Give your time and energy to others; let others have their own
way; do things for reasons other than furthering your own needs."
Albert Schweitzer
"Until mankind can extend the
circle of his compassion to include all living things, he will never,
himself, know peace."
Albert Schweitzer
"In everyone's life, at some
time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter
with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who
rekindle the inner spirit."
George Bernard Shaw
"If a
group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth -- beings who
considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other
animals -- would you concede them the rights over you that you assume over
other animals?"
Gary Snyder
"Find your
place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there."
Adlai Stevenson
"It is often easier to fight for one's
principles than to live up to them."
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
"UNLESS someone like you cares
a whole lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
Shakespere
"One touch of nature makes the
whole world kin."
Gary Snyder
"Find your place on the
planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there."
William of Saint
Thierry
"A man who has lost his sense
of wonder is a dead man."
Henry David Thoreau
"What's the use of a house if
you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
Leo Tolstoy
"Everyone thinks of changing
the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
Mark Twain
"Always do right. This will
gratify some and astonish the rest."
Mark Twain
"Keep away from people who try
to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really
great make you feel that you, too can become great."
Stuart Udall
"Plans to protect air and
water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man"
Terry Tempest Williams,
Congressional testimony of nature
"To be whole. To be complete.
Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to
rather than what we are separate from"
Henry D. Thoreau
"All good things are wild and free."
William Wordsworth
"Come forth into the Light of
Things, Let Nature be your teacher."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"Study nature, love nature,
stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
