30 Inspiring Quotes for Earth Day: 'The Environment Is Where We All Meet'

The best quotes about the environment from John Muir, Jane Goodall and more.

Celebrate Earth Day 2023 on Saturday, April 22, with moving Earth Day quotes about the environment from conservationists and naturalists like John Muir and John James Audubon—and unexpected voices like Albert Einstein. They're all worth remembering on this day set aside to honor Mother Nature.

Related: ‘There Is No Planet B’—75 Earth Day Instagram Captions To Inspire Change

Earth Day Quotes About the Environment

1. “The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” —Lady Bird Johnson

2. "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." —John Muir

Related: 25 Earth Day Facts—Plus, How to Help the Planet Even While 'Social Distancing' 

3. "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children." —John James Audubon

4. “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the Earth.” —Henry David Thoreau

5. “We need the tonic of wildness—to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground." —Henry David Thoreau

6. "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." —John Muir

7. “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein

8. “The good man is the friend of all living things.” —Gandhi

Related: Best Earth Day Activities for Kids

9. "An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment." —David Attenborough

10. "It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." —David Attenborough

11. “Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” —Theodore Roosevelt

12. “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt

13. "Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. The lesson one learns from yachting or planting is the manners of Nature; patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

14. "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together … all things connect." —Chief Seattle

15. "I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use." —Mother Teresa

16. "Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option...they will become a necessity." - Fujio Cho, President of Toyota Motors

17. "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." —Jane Goodall

18.  "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." —Frank Lloyd Wright (Related: Nature Quotes)

19. "There is a pleasure in the pathless woods. There is a rapture on the lonely shore. There is society, where none intrudes by the deep sea, and music in its roar. I love not man the less, but nature more." —Lord Byron

20."Until a man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favorable comparison with the products of nature, the living cell of a plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life." —Thomas Edison

21. "The earth is what we all have in common." - Wendell Berry

22. "Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty." —John Ruskin

Related: This Earth Day, Ditch Plastic for These Alternative Reusable Items

23. "Earth Day should encourage us to reflect on what we are doing to make our planet a more sustainable and livable place." —Scott Peters

24. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead

25. “Earth rejoices our words, breathing and peaceful steps. Let every breath, every word and every step make the mother earth proud of us.” —Amit Ray

26. “The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” —Gaylord Nelson

27. "He that plants trees loves others beside himself." -Thomas Fuller

28. “It's Earth day. I wonder if we can plant more trees than people for a change?” —Stanley Victor Paskavich

29. "To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people's trash." —Bill Nye

30. "Every day is Earth Day, and I vote we start investing in a secure climate future right now." —Jackie Speier

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