Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.
Are we to regard the world of nature simply as a storehouse to be robbed for the immediate benefit of man? ... Does man have any responsibility for the preservation of a decent balance in nature, for the preservation of rare species, or even for the indefinite continuance of his race?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions humanity's role in nature and emphasizes our responsibility to preserve it.
Kenneth E. Boulding's quote reflects a deep concern for the relationship between humanity and the natural world. It suggests that nature should not be seen merely as a resource for human exploitation, but rather as something that requires care and preservation. Boulding urges us to ponder our responsibilities toward maintaining ecological balance and protecting various species, highlighting the interconnectedness of human survival with the health of the environment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about sustainability, you could quote this to emphasize the importance of environmental stewardship.
More from Kenneth E. Boulding
All quotes →As long as man was small in numbers and limited in technology, he could realistically regard the earth as an infinite reservoir, an infinite source of inputs and an infinite cesspool for outputs. Today we can no longer make this assumption. Earth has become a space ship, not only in our imagination but also in the hard realities of the social, biological, and physical system in which man is enmeshed.
Economics has been incurably growth-oriented and addicted to everybody growing richer, even at the cost of exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment.
Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis.
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What freezings I have felt, what dark days seen,_x000D_ _x000D_ What old December's bareness everywhere!
The earth is like a beautiful bride who needs no manmade jewels to heighten her loveliness.
Later she sat on the ground in the forest between school and home, and spring was so bright and beautiful, the warm air touched her so tenderly, she could almost feel herself changing into a flower. Her light dress felt like petals. "I love everything," she heard herself say. "So do I," a voice answered. Pearl straightened up and looked around. No one was there.
Lord, I do fear Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year My soul is all but out of me-let fall No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Sometimes since I've been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.
Down the hill I went, and then, I forgot the ways of men, For night-scents, heady and damp and cool Wakened ecstasy