Earth Day: 23 of the Greatest Environmental Quotes

In honor of Earth Day, I’ve put together this list of some of my favorite environmental quotes. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do. We have an obligation to take care of this world we all share and Earth Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the progress we’ve made.

It’s also a great opportunity to recommit and strive to do a better job. We’re all at a different point on our path toward a more sustainable future.

If you are thinking about the environment, take action on Earth Day 2019. Search Earth911’s Earth Day Events listings for activities near you.

Earth Day Inspiration

Now, time to draw a little inspiration from the quotes below.

1.

“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.”
—Mother Teresa [Tweet This]

2.

“The Earth is what we all have in common.”
—Wendell Berry [Tweet This]

3.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
-George Bernard Shaw [Tweet This]

4.

“Time spent among trees is never time wasted.”
—Anonymous [Tweet This]

5.

“Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs, —
To the silent wilderness,
Where the soul need not repress its music.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

6.

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.”
—Thomas Fuller [Tweet This]

7.

“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

8.

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.”
—Leo Tolstoy [Tweet This]

9.

“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”
-Lady Bird Johnson

10.

“The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”
—John Paul II

11.

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.”
—John Ruskin [Tweet This]

12.

“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”
—Jimmy Carter [Tweet This]

13.

“Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.”
—George Washington Carver [Tweet This]

14.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”
—Jane Goodall

15.

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”
—Gaylord Nelson

16.

“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.”
—Henry David Thoreau [Tweet This]

17.

“Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option … they will become a necessity.”
—Fujio Cho, Honorary Chairman of Toyota Motors

18.

“To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.”
—Helen Keller [Tweet This]

19.

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

20.

“The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.”
—Ernest Hemingway [Tweet This]

21.

As I walk with Beauty
As I walk, as I walk,
The universe is walking with me,
In beauty it walks before me,
In beauty it walks behind me,
In beauty it walks below me,
In beauty it walks above me,
Beauty is on every side.
—Traditional Navajo Prayer

22.

“The proper use of science is not to conquer nature but to live in it.”
—Barry Commoner [Tweet This]

23.

“We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.”
—Barbara Ward [Tweet This]

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on April 22, 2016.