I am only a child. Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the hypocrisy of adults who preach values but fail to practice them.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki's quote highlights the contradiction between the values taught to children and the actions exhibited by adults. It calls for introspection and accountability among grownups to ensure that their behaviors align with the moral lessons they impart to younger generations, particularly emphasizing respect, kindness, and responsibility towards others and the environment.
Themes
HypocrisyValuesEducationAccountabilityResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of leading by example for children.
More from Severn Cullis-Suzuki
All quotes βI was at Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago... I was only 12 years old. And when I was speaking to the U.N. I was fighting for my future.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
I worry that more and more kids my age are growing up without experiencing the outdoors, which means that fewer will care about the natural world.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
Fragmentation is a big part of the problem. You have a city where trash is taken away from the curb every week, and you don't see it any more, and you don't have any sense of where water comes from. So there's no sense of responsibility and accountability and there's also no sense of empowerment for our actions.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
Similar quotes
Only through freedom and environmental experience is it practically possible for human development to occur.
Maria MontessoriRead
I've been in so many writing workshops where someone hands in a story, and when the other writers in the workshop are giving feedback, they say, 'This is unbelievable.' And the writer says, 'Well, actually, the events are based in real life. This actually happened.'
Jesmyn WardRead
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
Edsger DijkstraRead
More money is put into prisons than into schools. That, in itself, is the description of a nation bent on suicide. I mean, what is more precious to us than our own children? We are going to build a lot more prisons if we do not deal with the schools and their inequalities.
Jonathan KozolRead
You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better.
Maxim GorkyRead
The true felicity of a lover of books is the luxurious turning of page by page, the surrender, not meanly abject, but deliberate and cautious, with your wits about you, as you deliver yourself into the keeping of the book. This I call reading.
Edith WhartonRead