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
We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!
Interpretation
We must persist in our efforts for the benefit of future generations and the environment.
Wangari Maathai emphasizes the importance of perseverance in the face of challenges. She urges us to continue fighting for the welfare of the planet and future generations, suggesting that we have a responsibility to take action and create positive change rather than succumb to fatigue or despair.
In practice
During a climate change rally, to inspire attendees to keep fighting for the planet.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
The whole fabric of southern society must be changed, and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it never has been, a true republic.
Through discipline, and determination one can change anything and everything about him - his habits, his outlook on life
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
You cannot easily fit women into a structure that is already coded as male; you have to change the structure.
Myself and the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, but in truth, we are loving women whose life experiences have led us to seek justice for those victimized by the powerful.
Psychology cannot tell people how they ought to live their lives. It can however, provide them with the means for effecting personal and social change.
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