The destiny of our land, the air we breathe, the water we drink is not in the mystical hands of an uncontrollable agent, it is in our hands. A future which brings the balancing of our resources-preserving quality with quantity - is a future limited only by the boundaries of our will to get the job done.
The recent upsurge of public concern over environmental questions reflects a belated recognition that man has been too cavalier in his relations with nature. Unless we arrest the depredations that have been inflicted so carelessly on our natural systems-which exist in an intricate set of balances-we face the prospect of ecological disaster.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the urgent need for awareness and action regarding environmental issues due to humanity's careless treatment of nature.
Richard M. Nixon's quote highlights the growing public awareness of environmental issues, suggesting that people are beginning to recognize the detrimental impact humanity has had on natural ecosystems. He warns that unless society takes serious measures to address these careless actions, we risk leading ourselves towards catastrophic ecological consequences. The intricate balances of nature can be easily disrupted, indicating that our relationship with the environment requires careful consideration and respect.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about climate change, highlight Nixon's quote to stress the importance of taking immediate action to protect the environment.
More from Richard M. Nixon
All quotes βThe ability to be cool, confident, and decisive in crisis is not an inherited characteristic but is the direct result of how well the individual has prepared himself for the battle.
If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.
If the President does it, it can't be illegal.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.
Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively, and if after all of this time, and all of this sacrifice, and all of this support, there is still no end in sight, then I say the time has come for the American people to turn to new leadership not tied to the mistakes and policies of the past.
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Nature Cure is so simple easy and cheap.....this system of treatment should be used.
Over the summit, I saw the so-called Mono desert lying dreamily silent in the thick, purple light -- a desert of heavy sun-glare beheld from a desert of ice-burnished granite.
Then in October, Indian Summer, the air turned so soft, the sunlight so fragile, and each day's loveliness so poignantly doomed that even self-ignorance and restlessness felt like profound states of being, and he just wandered the empty beaches and misty headlands in a state of serene confusion and awe.
Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.
Never while anything is left of me shall this... camp be forgotten. It has fairly grown into me, not merely as memory pictures, but as part and parcel of mind and body alike.
And all the air is filled with pleasant noise of waters