Wangari Maathai Quotes
1940–2011 Kenya
Wangari Muta Maathai (1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan environmental and social activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2004.
- Kenya
- Academics
- Activists
- Environmentalists
- Scientists
Also known as: Maathai, Wangari
Random Wangari Maathai quote
16 quotes
"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking."
"The people are starving. They need food; they need medicine; they need education. They do not need a skyscraper to house the ruling party and a 24-hour TV station."
Wangari Maathai:"You Strike The Woman..." by Priscilla Sears (1991)
Human rights are not things that are put on the table for people to enjoy. These are things you fight for and then you protect.
“What people see as fearlessness is really persistence.”
We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own—indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder.
I’m very conscious of the fact that you can’t do it alone. It’s teamwork. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it.
. “African women in general need to know that it’s OK for them to be the way they are — to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.”
"We must resist the notion that there is only one way to be a woman, one way to be African, and one way to be human."
We all share one planet and are one humanity; there is no escaping this reality.
“You don't need a diploma to plant a tree.”
"I think what the Nobel committee is doing is going beyond war and looking at what humanity can do to prevent war. Sustainable management of our natural resources will promote peace."
"In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground- a time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now."
“Hallowed landscapes lost their sacredness and were exploited as the local people became insensitive to the destruction, accepting it as a sign of progress.”
The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price. That is the problem.
No matter how dark the cloud, there is always a thin, silver lining, and that is what we must look for. The silver lining will come, if not to us then to next generation or the generation after that. And maybe with that generation the lining will no longer be thin.
nobody knows the solution to every problem; rather than blindly following the prescriptions of others, Africans need to think and act for themselves, and learn from their mistakes.