WIST Quotations

Huxley, Aldous -- Island (1962)

Dave — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:52:36 +0000

Never give children a chance of imagining that anything exists in isolation. Make it plain from the very beginning that all living is relationship. Show them relationships in the woods, in the fields, in the ponds and streams, in the village and in the country around it. Rub it in.

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Island (1962)

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1965-07-09), “Strengthening the International Development Institutions,” sec. 12, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

Dave — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:12:27 +0000

We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent upon its vulnerable reserve of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave — to the ancient enemies of mankind — half free in the liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew, can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolutions depends the survival of us all.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1965-07-09), “Strengthening the International Development Institutions,” sec. 12, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
(Source)

Stevenson was serving as UN Ambassador from the United States. He died of a heart attack on 1965-07-14, while in London after this trip. This was his last public address, and was read into the Congressional Record for the House of Representatives, 89th US Congress (1965-07-15) by Rep. Abraham Multer of New York.

Leopold, Aldo -- Round River, “Conservation” (1953)

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:04:09 +0000

The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, “What good is it?” If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.

Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American conservationist, forester, ecologist
Round River, “Conservation” (1953)
(Source)