Pope John Paul II Quotes

The earth always belongs to the living.

Governments, however, must think not only of the present, but of the rights of future generations.

With the observable fact that scientific knowledge makes our lives better when applied with concern for human welfare and environmental protection, there is no question that science and technology can produce abundance so that no one has to go without.

All too often, the conversation about appropriate and balanced environmental stewardship gets caught up in partisan politics. Yet, this conversation is key to the preservation of our great country for generations to come, as important as ensuring we have fiscally responsible policies to secure our future.

What is the future going to say about us now? What are our kids going to look at us and say, 'How could you not stop that person from getting into power? How could you not stop that environmental disaster that you saw coming a mile away?'

We need to have a vision of the world we want to create so that we can see ourselves as collaborators with future generations in the project of shaping it.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Our nation cannot call for respect for human rights when it lacks the moral courage to save its own cities, its own poor, its own minorities whose rights are trampled upon.

We have a moral obligation to straighten out the world before we mess up space.

We have changed our environment more quickly than we have learned how to change ourselves.

I beseech you to live not only for this age, but for the next also.

That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics..

Humanity stands ... before a great problem of finding new raw materials and new sources of energy that shall never become exhausted. In the meantime we must not waste what we have, but must leave as much as possible for coming generations.

… the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places.

Those of us concerned with developing new technology should consider ourselves to have a major undertaking to try to meet the expanding needs of the increasing number of people in the world with its finite resources and environments constraints.

The purpose of the Conservation movement is to make our country a permanent and prosperous home for ourselves, and for our children, and for our children’s children.

Human dignity is based upon freedom, and freedom upon human dignity. The one presupposes the other.

We - the current generation - have a moral responsibility to make the world better for future generations.

When you run a company, you want to hand it off in better shape than you found it. In the same way, just as we shouldn't leave our children or grandchildren with mountains of national debt and unsustainable entitlement programs, we shouldn't leave them with the economic and environmental costs of climate change.

We must reflect on the kind of country that we want to build and the kind of society which we are choosing to pass on to our children.

We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.

My whole shtick is that I want to contribute to New York's culture via restaurants, nightlife, whatever... but to be more conscious, more aware, more sustainable. It's more than just 'being responsible as a culture.' It's having an ethical chain of production.

I don't know much about politics, but you have to look at it with the bigger picture and think what's best for us now, what's best for us in 10 years' time, what's best for our kids' kids' future - and I don't know.

Foreign relations should involve human rights, workers' rights, and environmental protection.

Let us choose to unite the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations.