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.
If current technological processes continue without change, the environment will change, and we, the human species, will either have to mutate or even die, to disappear, as many species have disappeared.
Please, please stop saying that Ukraine is a corrupt country, because from now, it's not true. We want to change this image.
If the National Football League, an organization notoriously known for not standing behind their athletes of color, can come out to make a statement to condemn racism and their systemic oppression and admit they were wrong for not listening in the past, then the 'Bachelor' franchise can most certainly follow suit.
Well, I think by any expectation South Africa has come a tremendously long way. We've seen a society that many people thought couldn't withstand a peaceful transition to democracy without a great deal of violence, in fact, make that transition and do it in relative peace and security.
We are not going to achieve a new world order without paying for it in blood as well as in words and money.
Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.