Every person who has ever achieved anything has been knocked down many times. But all of them picked themselves up and kept going, and that is what I have always tried to do.
Wangari MaathaiRead
Culture defines who we are and how we see ourselves. A new attitude toward nature provides space for a new attitude toward culture and the role it plays in sustainable development
Interpretation
What this quote means
Culture shapes our identity and perspective, influencing our interaction with the world, especially in terms of sustainability.
Wangari Maathai's quote emphasizes the integral relationship between culture and identity, indicating that our understanding of ourselves is greatly influenced by cultural norms. Additionally, she advocates for a revised perspective on nature, suggesting that recognizing its importance can lead to transformative changes in how we approach cultural dynamics, particularly in the context of sustainable development.
Themes
CultureSustainabilityIdentityNatureAttitude
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental awareness, I would quote Wangari Maathai to emphasize the cultural aspects of our relationship with nature.
More from Wangari Maathai
All quotes →It was easy to persecute me without people feeling ashamed. It was easy to vilify me and project me as a woman who was not following the tradition of a 'good African woman' and as a highly educated elitist who was trying to show innocent African women ways of doing things that were not acceptable to African men.
Wangari MaathaiRead
I know there is pain when sawmills close and people lose jobs, but we have to make a choice. We need water and we need these forests.
Wangari MaathaiRead
We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a hummingbird, I’ll do the best I can.
Wangari MaathaiRead
As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service
Wangari MaathaiRead
It gradually became clear that the Green Belt Movement's work with communities to repair the degraded environment could not be done effectively without participants embracing a set of core spiritual values.
Wangari MaathaiRead
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