Erik Erikson Quotes

We owe at least this much to future generations, from whom we have borrowed a fragile planet called Earth.

The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

The need to incorporate longer term time scales into our societal choices is very real—and right in the lap of our generation.

We cannot shirk responsibility from concerns for the welfare of the next generation.

I plant a lot of trees. I am a great believer in planting things for future generations. I loathe the now culture where you just live for today.

I haven't inherited the earth from my parents, I am borrowing it from my children.

Land is not something you inherit from your parents. It is something you borrow from your children.

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.

We can't continue to take from our planet the way we do and not give anything back, and the idea of, 'Oh, but it's fine, I won't have to deal with it in my lifetime,' well, you need to think about the future generations who will have to deal with it.

When we look as a society, we've really lost the connection between our actions and the future.

I care about this beautiful planet that we all share. This is a home that we have to leave in good shape for the next generations.

Generations will soon come into their power feeling differently about themselves than we do now, and in their re-enchanted world, they will wonder about us and what we did to their world, and what we thought we were doing.

Future generations are not going to ask us what political party were you in. They are going to ask what did you do about it, when you knew the glaciers were melting.

What would help us preserve our natural resources are genetic traits that let us sacrifice the present for the sake of the future. You need wisdom to sacrifice something that is immediately useful or advantageous for the sake of something that will be important in the future.

The earth belongs in usufruct to the living.

We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.

Your evolutionary heuristics come back to the idea of a future roughly similar to what it is now. You give to the community as it is now, to benefit a similar community in the future.

I think my job is to leave some evidence for future generations that there was somebody who cared while we were destroying everything.

We, the present generation, have the responsibility to act as a trustee of the rich natural wealth for the future generations. The issue is not merely about climate change; it is about climate justice.

We are no longer inheriting the Earth from our parents, we are stealing it from our children.

What we are doing is, rather than living on the interest of our basic biological capital, we're using up our capital, so we're dipping into our capital. We're using up what should be our children's and grandchildren's legacy.

I think my message to the politicians who have within their power the ability to make change is, 'Do you really, really not care about the future of your great-grandchildren? Because if we let the world continue to be destroyed the way we are now, what's the world going to be like for your great-grandchildren?'

A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.

I think and hope there are far more people aware of the need to look after our future.

Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.