Phrases about respecting nature: 100 undeniable truths 🆙

Given the growing attention to environmental issues and the increasing documentation on the benefits of a vegetarian, vegan or low-meat diet, we have decided to put together a collection of phrases about respect for nature and living beings.

Quotes and Phrases about Respect for Nature

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Phrases about Respect for Nature: from 1 to 20

Humanity's highest priority is to reintegrate into the natural world. ~ jonathan porritt

If we are to use our tools in the service of survival on Earth, our basic relationship with nature, including the story we tell ourselves about who we are in the universe, must change. ~ Janine M. Benyus

In fact, we have in no way escaped the gravity of life. We are still subject to ecological laws, like any other form of life. ~ Janine M. Benyus

Our little spaceship Earth is only eight thousand miles in diameter, which is an almost insignificant size in the vast expanse of space. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Our relationship with nature is more of a being than a having. We are nature: we do not have nature. ~ steven harper

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less relish we will have for destruction. Rachel Carson

We are the earth, made of the same matter; there is nothing else, no division between us and the "lower" or "higher" ways of being. ~ estella lauder

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in winter. It is the small shadow that runs on the grass and is lost in the twilight. ~ Ranunculus

What we need most is to hear the sound of the Earth crying within us. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When man departs from nature, his heart hardens. ~ lakota proverb

Each kind of tree is a kind of musical instrument: the apple tree a cello, the old oak a viola, the cypress a harp, the willow a flute, the young pine a mute violin. Put your ear to the rustling branch and maybe you'll understand what it says. ~ Guy Murchie, Jr.

If I had to choose the sights, sounds, and fragrances I would most like to see, hear, and smell, of all the pleasures in the world, on one last day on earth, I think I would choose these: the clear, ethereal song. of a white-throated sparrow at dawn; the smell of pine trees in the midday heat; the solitary call of Canada geese; the sight of a dragonfly shimmering in the sunlight; the voice of a hermit thrush in the distance in a forest that darkens at dusk; and - the most spiritual and moving of panoramas - the white cathedral of a cumulus cloud floating serenely in the blue of the sky. ~ Edwin Camino Teale

The world of life, of spontaneity, the world of sunrise and sunset and starlight, the world of earth and sun, of prairie and forest, of walnut, oak and maple forests, of the wildlife that lives around us, of the river and its well. -being- all this is the integral community in which we live. ~ Thomas Berry

There were no limits or borders. It was as if my mind had long ago invented a story of separate objects with boundaries, but the story was not true. The real story is that there is a light and spacious energy flowing through everything at all times. It is within matter, both within things and within space, and you can tune into it at any time, like changing the frequency of the radio. There is no distance between this essence and ourselves. It is not from another world. It's right here, closer than our own flesh. ~ vijali hamilton

For gardening, one opens up one's personal space to admit a few, many, or thousands of plants that exude charm, pleasure, beauty, oxygen, conversation, friendship, trust, and other rewards if their basic needs can be met. ~ tom draper

Wonderful how everything in the desert adjusts completely to us, as if it were truly a part and a parent of us. The sun does not shine on us, but on us. The rivers flow not beyond but through us, exciting, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. ~ John Muir

Eating what has been grown completes a cycle, from seed to table, that humans have completed over thousands of years. In our busy and alienated existence, we rarely have the opportunity to satisfy our physical needs in such direct ways. ~ pam peirce

The average American spends only 7% of their life outdoors: 87% is spent indoors and another 6% in cars. ~ APA

Go up to the mountains and receive their good news. The peace of nature will flow to you as sunlight flows to the trees. The winds will blow on you with their freshness and the storms with their energy, while your worries will fall like autumn leaves. ~ John Muir

Man was kicked out of heaven where he could trust his instincts. ~ Konrad Lorenz

Phrases about Respect for Nature: from 21 to 40

Nature has been for me, for as long as I can remember, a source of comfort, inspiration, adventure and pleasure; a home, a teacher, a companion. ~ lorena anderson

If we are willing to be still and open enough to listen, the desert itself will teach us. ~ steven harper

Sit before the facts like a child, and be prepared to abandon any preconceived notions, humbly follow where and to whatever abyss nature leads you, or you will learn nothing. ~ th huxley

The source of man's unhappiness is his ignorance of Nature. ~ Paul Henry Thiry D'Holdbach

There is no other door to knowledge than the one opened by nature; there is no other truth than the truths we discover in nature. ~ Lutero Burbank

Listen to the voice of nature, because it has treasures for you. ~ ferret proverb

A reclusive American monk named Thomas Berry writes that in our relationship with nature we have been autistic for centuries. Firmly wrapped up in our version of knowledge, we have hardly been receptive to the wisdom of the natural world. In order to retune ourselves, to have the "spontaneous environmental relationship" that characterized our ancestors, we will have to do something that is perfectly pleasurable: immerse ourselves again in the natural world. ~ Janine M. Benyus

If the age of the Earth were a calendar year and today were a breather before midnight on New Year's Eve, we showed up a quarter of an hour ago and all of recorded history has happened in the last sixty seconds. Fortunately for us, our fellow planetaries, the fantastic intertwining of plants, animals, and microbes, have been patiently perfecting their gifts since March. … After 3,8 million years of research and development, failures are fossils and what surrounds us is the secret of survival. ~ Janine M. Benyus

Virtually every native culture that has survived without littering their nests has recognized that nature knows best and has had the humility to ask bears, wolves, ravens, and redwoods for guidance. ~ Janine M. Benyus

I'd be more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving he can beat nature and more time savoring her sweetness and respecting her antiquity. ~ Elwyn Brooks Blanco

Nature never says one thing and wisdom another. ~ Juvenal

As long as we relate to trees, rivers, mountains, fields, and oceans as properties that we can manipulate according to our real or invented needs, nature remains opaque and does not reveal its true being to us. ~ Henri JM Nouwen

For a long time we have thought that we are better than the world of the living, and now some of us tend to think that we are worse, that everything we touch turns to soot. But neither perspective is healthy. We must remember what it feels like to have an equal position in the world, to be “between the mountain and the ant… an integral part of the creations,” as Iroquois traditionalist Oren Lyons puts it. ~ Janine M. Benyus

From the human point of view, the difference between the mind of a man and that of a mountain goat is wonderful; from the point of view of the infinite ignorance that surrounds us, the difference is not striking. In fact, from that point of view, the goat may have the better mind, because he is more akin to his place, and would not endanger his species or his planet for the sake of an idea. ~ Wendell Berry

Once a sparrow perched on my shoulder for a moment while I was digging in a village garden, and I felt that it was more different from that circumstance than from any brooch I might have worn. ~ Henry David Thoreau

If you are not radiant with joy and warmth, if you are not filled with love and kindness for all beings and all creatures and all creation, one thing is certain: you do not know God! ~ peace pilgrim

In the eyes of God, all creatures have value, whether we find them tender, loving, beautiful or not. Our perspective, in a sense, is neither here nor there. Theology, at its best, can help free us from our anthropocentric limitations. ~ Dr. Andrew Linzey

It is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species can remain in it. ~ Wendell Berry

Less than 1% of the species that arose with the advent of life on our planet more than 3 billion years ago are still alive today. Non-human organisms, be they animals, plants, fungi, algae or bacteria, that have successfully survived and reproduced for thousands, and even millions, of generations, have done so because they have learned the game of survival...~ deborah rich

The concept known as bal tashchit - "Not to destroy" - has a special meaning in the Jewish tradition... Our faith constantly warns us that capricious, reckless and wasteful destruction of the elements and creatures of the earth is wrong... We must remember each day our own responsibility towards all aspects of creation. ~ David Geffen

Phrases about Respect for Nature: from 41 to 60

Today's massive loss of species and habitats will only be stopped when the human community realizes that nature is not an inferior to be exploited or an enemy to be destroyed, but an ally that demands respect and reconstitution. We are part of the web of life. Many threads have already been broken. We must act quickly to repair what we can. Our life and livelihood depend on it. ~ United Nations

We live in a world that we did not create and that we cannot control. ~ Timothy C. Weiskel

We need to understand ourselves as biological creatures attuned to the diversity of all life. When we can truly see this unity and interdependence, we will find a forgiving, generous, and resilient nature. ~ Kenny Ausubel

We travel together, passengers in a small spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable supplies of air and soil; all committed to our security with your security and your peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, work and, shall I say, love that we give to our fragile ship. ~ Adlai Stevenson

"A lot of people talk to animals," said Pooh... "However, not many listen," he said. ~ benjamin hoff

The fact is that consumption is limited by the reproductive capacity of nature: excessive consumption today means less natural capital and less natural income tomorrow. This, in turn, may force future generations to accelerate the downward spiral while eroding remaining reserves of natural capital to meet their own consumption needs. In other words, life on Earth (including human life) can only be sustained within the limits of the dividends that nature pays on our remaining stock and future investments in natural capital. … Sustainability requires that human enterprise remain within global carrying capacity. ~ Wackernagel & Rees

Earth's biophysical systems are large, complex, and self-organizing entities. This means that there is usually a long delay between the economic cause and the ecological effect. (For example, any global warming we have already experienced is not a result of current greenhouse gas levels, but of levels reached perhaps 40 years ago; although CFC production is ending, ozone depletion may worsen during a decade and a half). it may be a century or more before stratospheric ozone returns to normal). Therefore, the temptation to wait until we are certain that a particular trend is fatal, dangerous, or simply uneconomic before deciding on corrective action leads us into an ecological trap. At best, delay simply further entrenches our unsustainable lifestyles, making change difficult; at worst, it will be too late to do anything to reverse the trend. ~ Wackernagel & Rees

Cooperation for mutual benefit, a very common survival strategy in natural systems, is one that humanity must emulate. ~ Eugene Odum

Human beings are the only creatures capable of irrational behavior in the name of reason. ~ Ashley Montagu

It may not be irrelevant to point out that even the most modest life forms, such as earthworms, dung beetles, and crabs, have no trouble identifying the real problems they face if they are to survive. ~ edward goldsmith

Nature is an infinite combination and repetition of very few laws. Hum the old familiar aria through countless variations. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Instead, the law of nature states that it is prohibited. If you violate their laws, you yourself are the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and the executioner. ~ Lutero Burbank

99% of all species that ever lived are now extinct. ~ Edward O. Wilson

Our biggest problem, perhaps, is that we have become a nation of playmakers. We apparently believe in the infinite availability of finite resources. ~ Wendell Berry

Our current ecological excess is indicated by the global degradation of forests, soil, water systems, fisheries and biological diversity. ~ Wackernagel & Rees

I fear that great harm has been done to our generation by fostering the idea that it would live safely in a permanent order of things. ~ Helen Keller

The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else. ~ barry plebeyo

The mistakes that are made now are made for all time. ~ Rachel Carson

The true survivors are the inhabitants of the Earth who have lived for millions of years without consuming their ecological capital, the basis from which all abundance springs. ~ Janine M. Benyus

Aphorisms about respecting nature: from 61 to 80

The world must not be put in order, the world is order incarnate. It is up to us to put ourselves in unison with this order. ~ Henry Miller

We have forgotten the earth, we have forgotten it in the sense that we do not consider it as the source of our life. ~ Fairfield Osborn

What we lack is the intellectual and emotional acceptance of the fact that humanity is materially dependent on nature and that nature's productive capacity is limited. ~ Wackernagel & Rees

Nature is balanced. We cannot disturb its balance, because we know that the law of Cause and Effect is the infallible and inexorable law of nature; but we cannot find our balance as nations and as individuals, because we have not yet learned that the same law works inexorably in human life and society as it does in nature, that what we sow, we must inevitably reap. ~ Sidney Bremer

Exceeding is growth beyond carrying capacity. Carrying capacity limits can be exceeded without a "big bang" due to the availability of large capital stocks. Yields may still increase and monetary returns may increase, and although there may be signs of ecological stress, everything else may seem normal. Eventually, however, the consequences of the erosion of natural capital can be felt as ecological catastrophe and population collapse. ~ Wackernagel & Rees

The idea of absolute freedom is a fiction. It is based on the idea of an independent self. But there really is no such thing. There is no self without other people. There is no self without sunlight. There is no me without dew. And the water AND the bees that pollinate the food we eat… So the idea of behaving in a way that doesn't recognize these mutual relationships isn't really freedom, it's indulgence. ~ Peter coyote

The most irrevocable of the laws of nature says that a species cannot occupy a niche that appropriates all the resources: there must be a sharing. Any species that ignores this law ends up destroying its community to support its own expansion. ~ Janine M. Benyus

The time has come to lower our voices, to stop imposing our mechanistic patterns on the biological processes of the earth, to resist the urge to control, command, coerce, oppress, and humbly begin to follow the leadership of the largest community on earth. on which all life depends ~ Thomas Berry

What we need... is a profound reform of our public theology of growth. ~ Timothy Weiskel

The underlying economic logic of an economy based on unlimited growth remains largely unchallenged in public discourse. ~ Timothy C. Weiskel

We are grossly wasting our energy resources and other precious raw materials as if their supply were infinite. We even have to face the prospect of changing our basic ways of life. This change will be made on our initiative in a planned and rational way, or it will be imposed on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature. ~ Jimmy Carter

What is happening now is of a geological and biological order of magnitude. We are altering the entire Earth system which, over the course of a few billion years and through an endless sequence of trial and error, has produced such a magnificent variety of living forms, forms capable of seasonal self-renewal over vast periods of time. . ~ Thomas Berry

A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is just as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being. ~ Muhammad

With an ethical conduct towards all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Do not harm other living beings. They are just your brothers and sisters. ~ Buddha

It is the closest to God that does not harm any living being. ~ El Bhagavad Gita

Human nature will find itself only when it fully understands that to be human it must cease to be bestial or brutal. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I am for animal rights as well as human rights. This is the path of a complete human being. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I can't help but have reverence for all that is called life. I cannot avoid compassion for everything that is called existence. This is the principle and foundation of morality. ~ Albert Schweitzer

I feel that spiritual progress will require at some point that we stop killing our fellow man to satisfy our bodily needs. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Phrases about Respect for Nature: from 81 to 100

I believe that the more defenseless a creature is, the more entitled it is to the protection of man against the cruelty of man. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

If [man] does not want to suffocate human feelings, he must practice kindness towards animals, because those who are cruel to animals become harsh even in their dealings with men. We can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals. ~ Immanuel Kant

If you have men who exclude any creature of God from the protection of compassion and mercy, you will have men who will do the same with their fellow men. ~ St. Francis of Assisi

It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of man's existence. On the contrary, all other beings were also created for their own good and not for the good of something else. ~ Maimonides

Kindness towards all of God's creatures is an absolute necessity for peace and justice to prevail. ~ Sir Wilfred Grenfell

Life is as dear to a dumb creature as it is to a man. Just as we want happiness and fear pain, just as we want to live and not die, so do other creatures. ~ Dalai Lama

Live and let live. ~ english proverb

Loving animals: God gave them the rudiments of thought and serene joy. Do not bother them, therefore, do not torment them, do not deprive them of their joy, do not go against the will of God.~ Fyodor Mikhail Dostoevsky

The man who violates his feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply rooted in the human heart is the command not to take life. ~ Leo Tolstoy

My life is full of meaning to me. The life around me must be meaningful to itself. If I am to expect others to respect my life, then I must respect the other life I see. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all living things, we will remain savages. ~ Thomas A Edison

Not harming our humble brothers is our first duty towards them, but stopping there is not enough. We have a higher mission: to be at your service wherever you are needed. ~ St. Francis of Assisi

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The missing link between the animals and a truly human humanity is man himself, who does not yet see himself as part of the world, but claims it for himself. ~ Dr. Michael W. Fox

The question is not: can they reason? they can't even talk? but: can they suffer? ~ Jeremy bentham

The squirrel you kill in jest dies seriously. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The thinking person must oppose all cruel customs, however rooted in tradition and surrounded by an aura of culture. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and pain into another person's life... ~ Albert Schweitzer

The worst sin towards our fellow men is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: this is the essence of inhumanity. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends. ~ George Bernard Shaw

There is no religion without love, and people can talk all they want about their religion, but if it doesn't teach them to be good and kind to beasts as to men, it's all a farce. ~ Anna Sewell

Appointments about Respect for Nature: from 101 to 120

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living beings, man himself will not find peace. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is, whether its victim is human or animal, we cannot expect things to get much better in this world. ~ Rachel Carson

We must never allow the voice of humanity within us to be silenced. It is man's sympathy with all creatures that makes him truly man. ~ Albert Schweitzer

We will never know how unique we really are until we start acting as human as possible. ~ catalina roberts

What is religion? Compassion for all things that have life. ~ Mahabharata

Whoever saves a life is as if he had saved the whole world; whoever destroys a single life is as if he had destroyed the entire world. ~ The talmud

I believe that animals have value in themselves, and that they are not inferior to humans, but different from us, and that they do not really exist for us or belong to us... It should not be a question. how they should be treated in the context of their usefulness, or perceived usefulness, to us, but rather whether we have a right to use them. ~ Ingrid New York

Everything we have learned about animals suggests that these sentient beings are remarkably similar to humans in terms of their experience of terror, pain, grief, anxiety, and stress. ~ Bart Gruzalski

Almost all of us have a deep desire for peace, peace on earth; but we will never achieve true peace - the peace of love, and not the difficult balance of fear - until we recognize the place of animals in the scheme of things and treat them accordingly. ~ Mr Dowding

The human spirit...has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must be rooted, can only reach its full breadth and depth if it encompasses all living creatures and is not limited to man. … Now there is a new ethic, that of respect for life, whose validity is increasingly recognized. ~ Albert Schweitzer

The friend of nature is the man who feels inwardly united with everything that lives in nature, who shares the fate of all creatures, helps them when he can in their pain and need, and avoids as much as possible hurting or take the life. . ~ Albert Schweitzer

The hope for the animals of tomorrow lies in a human culture that learns to feel beyond itself. We have to learn empathy, we have to learn to look into the eyes of an animal and feel that its life has value because it is alive. Nothing else will help. ~ kenneth blanco

The point to grasp from the saints' tradition is that loving animals is not sentimentality (as we know it) but true spirituality. Certainly there can be vain and selfish love, but going astray (sometimes literally) to help animals, striving to ensure their protection and feeling with them their suffering and being moved by it - these are undoubtedly signs of spiritual greatness. ~ Dr. Andrew Linzey

We stopped eating meat many years ago. During a Sunday lunch, we casually gazed out the kitchen window at our little lambs playing happily in the fields. Looking at our plates, we suddenly realized that we were eating the paw of an animal that until recently was playing in a field. We looked at each other and said, “Wait a minute, we love these sheep, they are such gentle creatures. So why are we eating them? It was the last time we did that. ~ Paul and Linda McCartney

With each passing year, we uncover more evidence to support Darwin's groundbreaking hypothesis that the cognitive and emotional lives of animals differ only in degree, from fish to birds to monkeys to humans. ~ Roger Fouts

I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race, as it gradually improves, to stop eating animals. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The fate of any truth is to be despised when it is first acclaimed. … But the time is coming when people will be amazed that the human race has existed for so long before they recognize that reckless harm to life is incompatible with true ethics. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Conclusions

We hope that these phrases about respect for nature have inspired you to change your relationship with the environment and animals, and return to being in harmony with the world around you.

If you are looking for more general phrases about respect, we have written an article about it.

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