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
It's a matter of life and death for this country. The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the urgent need to address environmental issues, particularly the threat to Kenyan forests caused by human activities.
Wangari Maathai highlights the critical importance of Kenyan forests not only for the environment but also for the survival and well-being of the nation. The quote underscores that the threat of extinction facing these forests is a direct result of human actions, portraying environmental conservation as a vital and immediate concern for the future of the country.
Themes
KenyaForestsExtinctionEnvironmentMan-MadeConservation
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on environmental awareness, I referenced Wangari Maathai's quote to emphasize the dire consequences of deforestation.
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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