As a people, we have the problem of making our forests outlast this generation, or iron outlast this century, and our coal the next; not merely as a matter of convenience or comfort, but as a matter of stern necessity.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of sustainable resource management for future generations.
William Howard Taft highlights the critical challenge society faces in ensuring that natural resources like forests, iron, and coal endure beyond our current generation. He argues that this is not just an issue of convenience, but a pressing necessity for the survival and well-being of future populations, urging collective responsibility toward environmental stewardship.
In practice
In a speech about climate change, I quoted William Howard Taft to emphasize the need for sustainable practices.
The President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power in the Federal Constitution or in an act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. There is no undefined residuum of power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public interest.
The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by those who seek it, serve it, live it. It cannot be uttered; it can only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each man knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all things worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no man can know it alone.
The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress.
We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.
I think his greatest fault is his failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done. This is a great weakness in any man.
There is nothing so despicable as a secret society that is based upon religious prejudice and that will attempt to defeat a man because of his religious beliefs. Such a society is like a cockroach - it thrives in the dark. So do those who combine for such an end.
Dublin dwindles so beautifully; there is no harsh separation between it and the country. It fades away, whereas London seems to devour the country; an army of buildings come and take away a beautiful park, and you never seem to get quite out of sight of a row of houses.
Seafood is simply a socially acceptable form of bush meat. We condemn Africans for hunting monkeys and mammalian and bird species from the jungle yet the developed world thinks nothing of hauling in magnificent wild creatures like swordfish, tuna, halibut, shark, and salmon for our meals. The fact is that the global slaughter of marine wildlife is simply the largest massacre of wildlife on the planet.
Were I a cloud I'd gather My skirts up in the air, And fly well know whither, And rest I well know where.
Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.
One great thing about fly fishing is that after a while nothing exists of the world but thoughts about fly fishing
Birds ... are sensitive indicators of the environment, a sort of "ecological litmus paper," ... The observation and recording of bird populations over time lead inevitably to environmental awareness and can signal impending changes.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.