Every person who has ever achieved anything has been knocked down many times. But all of them picked themselves up and kept going, and that is what I have always tried to do.
Wangari MaathaiRead
There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses frustration over the widespread deforestation without efforts to replenish trees.
Wangari Maathai's quote highlights a significant environmental issue where the act of cutting down trees is prevalent, yet the equally important act of planting new ones is neglected. This reflects a broader societal indifference towards sustainability and environmental conservation, urging individuals to take responsibility for nurturing nature rather than solely exploiting it.
Themes
DeforestationEnvironmentSustainabilityPlantingTrees
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of tree planting.
More from Wangari Maathai
All quotes →It was easy to persecute me without people feeling ashamed. It was easy to vilify me and project me as a woman who was not following the tradition of a 'good African woman' and as a highly educated elitist who was trying to show innocent African women ways of doing things that were not acceptable to African men.
Wangari MaathaiRead
I know there is pain when sawmills close and people lose jobs, but we have to make a choice. We need water and we need these forests.
Wangari MaathaiRead
We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a hummingbird, I’ll do the best I can.
Wangari MaathaiRead
As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service
Wangari MaathaiRead
It gradually became clear that the Green Belt Movement's work with communities to repair the degraded environment could not be done effectively without participants embracing a set of core spiritual values.
Wangari MaathaiRead
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