Happy Earth Day!
As we celebrate Earth Day this year, may we reflect on the wise words of environmentalists, climate activists, faith leaders, lovers of nature, and the youth of the world.
Read these quotes to get inspired by the opportunity to make the planet a better place — and to get motivated to be a part of creating meaningful change. And go even further by exploring our guides on how to celebrate Earth Day and Earth Month.
PS: Feel more hopeful by checking out our collection of good news about the environment — and all of our other positive climate change coverage.
The Best Inspirational Quotes For Earth Day
Famous Earth Day Quotes
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
— Jane Goodall
→ Read more famous Jane Goodall quotes
“We need joy as we need air. We need love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.”
— Maya Angelou
“Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.”
— Greta Thunberg
“What do you need to solve the climate crisis? The answer is, everyone.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
— Robert Swan
“The good man is the friend of all living things.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
— George Bernard Shaw
About Earth Day
“Every day is Earth Day, and I vote we start investing in a secure climate future right now.”
— Jackie Speier
“Earth Day should encourage us to reflect on what we are doing to make our planet a more sustainable and livable place.”
— Scott Peters
“As cheesy as it sounds, truly every day is Earth Day.”
— Ashlan Gorse Cousteau
“If every day were Earth Day we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson, on Earth Day in 2022
“Earth day/week/month always is so busy but it's always still such a time of celebration and reverence for the work we do.”
— Isaias Hernandez
“Today is Earth Day. I don't want to end the day without an acknowledgment of the wonder that we actually live here. Okay, there is so much terror seeping around every corner. But there is also beauty, creativity, and life. Look around, we are blessed to be here. Really. Blessed.”
— Danté Stewart
→ Read more sustainability quotes
Short Quotes & Captions
“Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.”
— Albert Einstein
“The earth is what we all have in common.”
— Wendell Berry
“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.”
— Mother Teresa
Quotes From Native American and Indigenous Leaders
“We are on Earth to take care of life. We are on Earth to take care of each other.”
— Xiye Bastida
“A vibrant, fair, and regenerative future is possible — not when thousands of people do climate justice activism perfectly but when millions of people do the best they can.”
— Xiye Bastida
“When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.”
— Alanis Obomsawin, Indigenous filmmaker
“If we truly showed respect for the sacred, we would cease in its destruction and abuse. We would seek consent, rather than taking what does not belong to us. We would not work to destroy that which we don’t understand. Without the sacred, humanity perishes.”
— Ruth H. Hopkins, Great Sioux Nation member
→ Learn about leading Indigenous activists
Quotes From Politicians and World Leaders
“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”
— Barack Obama
“The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”
— UN Secretary-General António Guterres
“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
“We can do this. This is the biggest emergent social movement in all of history. We can do this. And if anybody thinks that we don’t have the political will, remember, political will is itself a renewable resource.”
— Al Gore
“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”
— Jimmy Carter
“It is our collective and individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family, to support its weaker members and to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.”
— Dalai Lama
→ Read inspiring quotes about national parks
On Nature
“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.”
— David Attenborough
“When we know how to protect all beings, we are protecting ourselves.”
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
“You are not Atlas carrying the world on your shoulder. It is good to remember that the planet is carrying you.”
— Vandana Shiva
“I need to be outside. I need to be in the world and to remember that I am of it.”
— John Green
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the Earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
— Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
— Albert Einstein
“Keep close to Nature’s heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
— John Muir
→ Read inspiring quotes about nature
→ Read the best quotes about trees
On Taking Action
“When enough people come together, then change will come and we can achieve almost anything. So instead of looking for hope — start creating it.”
— Greta Thunberg
“We need to have a whole cultural shift, where it becomes our culture to take care of the Earth, and in order to make this shift, we need storytelling about how the Earth takes care of us and how we can take care of her.”
— Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-editor of All We Can Save
“Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars. We must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet. Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful.”
— Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, in a TED Talk
“We can't save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard.”
— Leah Thomas
“When we choose to protect others, we are also protecting ourselves. We cannot achieve climate justice, without uplifting and supporting all communities.”
— Intersectional Environmentalist
→ Learn about intersectional environmentalism
“Do something. Pay your rent for the privilege of living on this beautiful, blue-green, living Earth.”
— Dave Foreman
“I love this beautiful, mysterious, complicated planet we get to call home. I don’t mean any simple, sappy kind of love. I don’t mean anything cute or tame. I mean living, breathing, heart-beating love. Wild love. This love is not a noun, she is an action verb. She can shoot stars into the sky. She can spark a movement. She can sustain a revolution.”
— Mary Annaïse Heglar
“These young people are saying we all have a right to know what is in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and the food we eat. It is our responsibility to leave this planet cleaner and greener. That must be our legacy.”
— John Lewis
“Now is the time to listen to the people and communities most impacted by the climate crisis, support their initiatives, and take action internally and externally to voice your solidarity.”
— Eric Johnson
→ Read more quotes about justice & quotes about making a difference
On Religion — From Christians, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews
“My faith is an enormous motivator for me to engage as well, because climate change is not just an issue that affects the entire planet, it is one that disproportionately affects those who do not have the resources to cope with this change — those whom we are explicitly told as Christians to care for.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
“For Christians, doing something about climate change is about living out our faith — caring for those who need help, our neighbors here at home or on the other side of the world, and taking responsibility for this planet that God created and entrusted to us.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
“The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”
— Pope John Paul II
“I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”
— Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care For Our Common Home
“Intelligence and conscience should lead us, as our faith commands, to treat all things with care and awe (taqwā) of their Creator, compassion (rahmah) and utmost good (ihsān).”
— Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change
“We call on all Muslims wherever they may be — to tackle habits, mindsets, and the root causes of climate change, environmental degradation, and the loss of biodiversity in their particular spheres of influence, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and bring about a resolution to the challenges that now face us.”
— Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change
“We know all Earth needs not only the joyful human voice but also the healing human hand.”
— A Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis
“We call for a new sense of eco-social justice – a tikkun olam that includes tikkun tevel, the healing of our planet. We urge those who have been focusing on social justice to address the climate crisis, and those who have been focusing on the climate crisis to address social justice.”
— A Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis
→ Read good news about faith communities making a difference
For Kids
“To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.”
— Bill Nye
“The main solution is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop the emission of greenhouse gases.”
— Greta Thunberg
“Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these our children.”
— Chico Mendes
“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”
— Lady Bird Johnson
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
— Margaret Mead
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