We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
So we draw lines around our property, our counties, our cities, our states, our countries. And, boy, do we act as if those lines are important. I mean, we go to war. We will kill and die to protect those boundaries. Nature couldn't give two hoots about our national boundaries.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the absurdity of human-made boundaries compared to the indifference of nature towards them.
David Suzuki emphasizes the arbitrary nature of the borders that humans create, suggesting that while we invest significant emotion and conflict into these divisions, the natural world remains unaffected by them. This reflection calls into question the importance we place on these lines, challenging us to reconsider our priorities in a universe indifferent to human constructs.
Themes
BordersNatureConflictHumanityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about nationalism, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of global unity.
More from David Suzuki
All quotes →As parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts we need to start getting out into nature with the young people in our lives. Families play a key role in getting kids outside.
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One of the joys of being a grandparent is getting to see the world again through the eyes of a child.
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The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
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Do you know how much land is under ice, rock and snow? Do you know why 90 percent of us live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border? We have this idea we're a vast country. But the reality is that a lot of it, a huge amount, is uninhabitable.
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We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
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