QuoteProject
We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.
Stephen Hawking
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote warns that human greed and ignorance threaten our own existence and that we must broaden our perspective beyond ourselves.

Stephen Hawking's quote highlights the critical dangers humanity faces due to its own greed and stupidity, suggesting that these traits could lead to our destruction. He calls for a shift in focus from self-serving interests to a broader awareness of our environment and the collective challenges that come with living on a polluted and overcrowded planet.

Themes

GreedStupidityDestructionAwarenessPlanetEnvironment

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about sustainability and environmental responsibility.

More from Stephen Hawking

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Stephen HawkingRead
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
Stephen HawkingRead
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Stephen HawkingRead
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
Stephen HawkingRead
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Stephen HawkingRead

Similar quotes

The Christian "doctrines" are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed in language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection
C. S. LewisRead
When you once see something as false which you have accepted as true, as natural, as human, then you can never go back to it.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
I know nothing and my heart aches
Fernando PessoaRead
The great thing about a culture of givers is that's not a delusion - it's reality.
Adam GrantRead
One of Satan's greatest tools is pride: to cause a man or a woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to his Creator or fellow beings. It is a cause for discontent, divorce, teenage rebellion, family indebtedness, and most other problems we face.
Ezra Taft BensonRead
If you look at history you'll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.
Desiderius ErasmusRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.