Quote collection
283 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I don't have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that's bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it's enough for me."
"Here we are, arguably the most intelligent being that's ever walked planet Earth, with this extraordinary brain ... and yet we're destroying the only home we have."
"One individual cannot possible make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference - all the difference in the world!"
"I don't care two hoots about civilization. I want to wander in the wild."
"We started off with physical evolution and got our form. Then we somehow developed language, which meant cultural evolution could race so we could change our behavior really quickly instead of over hundreds and hundreds of years. And then comes moral evolution, which means we're not frightfully far along with people. And maybe we end up with a spiritual evolution, which is this connectedness with the rest of the life forms on the planet."
"My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature. And can I do that alone? No. So there is a whole army of youth that can do it. So I suppose my mission is to reach as many of those young people as I can through my own efforts."
"As human beings, we can encompass a vague feeling of what the universe is, and all in this funny little brain here - so there has to be something more than just brain, it has to be something to do with spirit as well."
"Today it is generally accepted that although the earliest humans probably ate some meat, it was unlikely to have played a major role in their diet. Plants would have been a much more important source of food."
"I cannot remember a time when I did not want to go to Africa to study animals."
"My mother always taught us that if people don't agree with you, the important thing is to listen to them. But if you've listened to them carefully and you still think that you're right, then you must have the courage of your convictions."
"It's been proven by quite a few studies that plants are good for our psychological development. If you green an area, the rate of crime goes down. Torture victims begin to recover when they spend time outside in a garden with flowers. So we need them, in some deep psychological sense, which I don't suppose anybody really understands yet."
"What makes us human, I think, is an ability to ask questions, a consequence of our sophisticated spoken language."
"Science demands objective factual evidence - proof; spiritual experience is subjective and leads to faith."
"Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don't change."
"Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?"
"People don't believe that their actions really and truly are going to make a difference. But kids get it. They know. And they get all excited about the difference they're making."
"We have turned away from the natural world. Instead, it's all about money and power."
"Cumulatively small decisions, choices, actions, make a very big difference."
"I like some animals more than some people, some people more than some animals."
"We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love."