If we lived within our means - by being prudent - the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
Interpretation
Living within our means can ensure that everyone has what they need, but our mindset often limits progress.
In this quote, Jose Mujica emphasizes the importance of prudence and sustainable living for the global population. He suggests that if humanity collectively prioritizes responsible consumption over individualistic and nationalist tendencies, we could meet the basic needs of all people, fostering a sense of unity and shared responsibility rather than divisiveness based on borders and personal desires.
In practice
In a speech on climate change, this quote can illustrate the need for collective action.
My goal is to achieve a little less injustice in Uruguay, to help the most vulnerable and to leave behind a political way of thinking, a way of looking at the future that will be passed on and used to move forward. There's nothing short-term, no victory around the corner. I will not achieve paradise or anything like that. What I want is to fight for the common good to progress. Life slips by. The way to prolong it is for others to continue your work.
We can almost recycle everything now. If we lived within our means, by being prudent, the 7 billion people in the world could have everything they needed. Global politics should be moving in that direction. But we think as people and countries, not as a species.
I can live well with what I have.I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more.
I'm not the poorest president. The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live. My lifestyle is a consequence of my wounds. I'm the son of my history. There have been years when I would have been happy just to have a mattress.
I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor.
When you have a lot of solitude, any living thing becomes a companion.
Global warming is a matter of national security. Will we live in a world where we must fight our neighbors for fresh water and food? Or will we take the lead now and leave to our children and grandchildren a world better off than the one we inherited from our parents?
Change is never easy, and it often creates discord, but when people come together for the good of humanity and the Earth, we can accomplish great things.
The most rigid structures, the most impervious to change, will collapse first.
Grameen Bank was formed as an institution owned by its borrower members, who are poor women. Through its unique decision-making process, Grameen Bank has given millions of women the means to emerge from the shadows in a male-dominated society and to make something of themselves.
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society.
We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.
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