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55 Earth Day quotes to honor Mother Nature

Celebrate Earth Day with one of these short, funny or meaningful quotes on nature and the environment.

Most everything begins and ends with Mother Earth, which is why taking good care of her so essential.

While honoring the environment is something each of us is responsible for every single day, it's especially important on Earth Day, which falls on Monday, April 22, this year.

However you plan to recognize Earth Day, whether it's organizing a community clean-up or pledging to do better in your own life, you may find yourself in need of an Earth Day quote to help express your feelings about the holiday.

Celebrated for more than a half-century, the annual day dedicated to environmental awareness provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on our care of the planet and remind us that should we fail in our stewardship of it, in time, we may not be around to appreciate its splendor.

If you're wondering how Earth Day got its start, the commemoration was initiated by Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin senator concerned about the damage that pollution was doing to the planet. Hoping to attract attention to the issue, Nelson founded Earth Day in the spring of 1970.

Since that time, countries across the globe have pledged their support, and today, more than a billion people participate in various Earth Day activities in honor of Big Blue.

However you choose to get involved on this international day of recognition, you'll find inspiration from the words of luminaries, advocates, poets, politicians and other supporters in this list of short, funny and meaningful Earth Day quotes.

In sharing, you'll be joining millions of other voices in doing your part to help make the world a better place.

Short Earth Day Quotes

  • "Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." — Khalil Gibran, "Sand and Foam"
  • “Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these our children.” — Chico Mendes
  • “Global warming is, quite simply, the biggest thing that humans have ever managed to do.” — Bill McKibben
Earth Day Quotes
  • “You have to hold yourself accountable for your actions, and that’s how we’re going to protect the Earth.” — Julia Butterfly Hill 
  • "All our wisdom is stored in the trees." Santosh Kalwar
  • “Do unto those downstream as you have those upstream do unto you.” — Wendell Berry
  • “Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.” — Wangari Maathai
Earth Day Quotes
  • “Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint.” — Robert Frost
  • “Start where you are, with what you have. Make something of it and never be satisfied.” — George Washington Carver
  • “We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations.” ― David Brower
  • “The time to protect a species is while it is still common.” ― Rosalie Edge
  • "And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." — Khalil Gibran, "The Prophet"
Earth Day Quotes
  • "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." ― Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"
  • “We are the environment and how we treat each other is really how we treat the environment.” ― John Francis
  • "Earth breathes in us." ― Matthew Edward Hall
  • “The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.” — António Guterres
  • “In nature’s economy the currency is not money, it is life.” — Vandana Shiva
Earth Day Quotes

Funny Earth Day quotes

  • “For years, I thought the sun was a monster. I’m here to tell you that it’s not a monster. IT’S NOT A MONSTER!” — Howie, “The Benchwarmers”
  • “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” — Steve Martin
  • “Everybody wants to save the earth; no one wants to help mom do the dishes.” — P.J. O’Rourke
  • "Why pay money for the horror movies? Just go to a street without trees!" Mehmet Murat ildan
  • “Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring.” — Lilly Pulitzer
  • "I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." — Noel Coward
Earth Day Quotes
  • "The earth laughs in flowers." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow just as well." — Mark Twain
  • "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." — Albert Einstein
  • "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get one that hits back." J.K. Rowling, — "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Meaningful Earth Day quotes

Earth Day Quotes
  • "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall
  • “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.” ― Jacques Cousteau
  • “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” ― Edward Abbey
  • "The whole world is, to me, very much 'alive' — all the little growing things, even the rocks. I can’t look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life — the things going on-within them." — Ansel Adams
  • “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” — Aldo Leopold, "Green Fire"
Earth Day Quotes
  • "... if you learn how we are all connected with nature and each other, one person's suffering is our collected suffering. It's not the Earth's suffering, it's all of our suffering." — Jamie Margolin, "Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It"
  • “If we build a society based on honoring the earth, we build a society which is sustainable, and has the capacity to support all life forms.” — Winona LaDuke
  • "At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity." — Chico Mendes
  • “Unless we practice conservation, those who come after us will have to pay the price of misery, degradation and failure for the progress and prosperity of our day.” — Gifford Pinchot
  • "The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard." — Gaylord Nelson
Earth Day Quotes
  • "Average people and the average community can change the world. You can do it just based on common sense, determination, persistence and patience." — Lois Gibbs
  • “The time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet is now. You can make history or be vilified by it.” ― Leonardo DiCaprio
  • “The truth is we don’t need ten really passionate, committed environmentalists. We need one hundred or one million people who can do a little bit in that field and change things in their domain." ― Malaika Vaz
  • "Wilderness itself is the basis of all our civilization. I wonder if we have enough reverence for life to concede to wilderness the right to live on?" ― Margaret Murie
  • "We can't save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard." — Leah Thomas, "The Intersectional Environmentalist"
Earth Day Quotes
  • “Let us fight the indifference which has prevailed in the past and move towards that equilibrium between people, consumption, and the carrying capacity of our earth which we call sustainable development." — Gro Harlem Brundtland
  • “The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share." — Lady Bird Johnson
  • “Were the importance of our forests at all understood by the people in general, even from an economic standpoint their preservation would call forth the most watchful attention of the Government.” — John Muir, “The Treasures of the Yosemite”
  • “We can do this. This is the biggest emergent social movement in all of history. We can do this. And if anybody thinks that we don’t have the political will, remember, political will is itself a renewable resource.” — Al Gore
  • “When enough people come together, then change will come and we can achieve almost anything." — Greta Thunberg
  • “I truly believe that we in this generation must come to terms with nature, and I think we’re challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.” — Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring”
Earth Day Quotes
  • “Today’s youth does not have the luxury to have a childhood anymore. Older generations forced us into giving that away by destroying our planet. But if we strike now, if we work to undo the damage done by those before us, then maybe we can restore that luxury for the generations that follow us.” — Ciara Lonergan
  • “We’re the advocates for the salmon, the animals, the birds, the water. We’re the advocates for the food chain. We’re an advocate for all of society.” —Billy Frank, Jr.
  • “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.” — Theodore Roosevelt
  • “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.” — Henry David Thoreau
  • "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts ...There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." — Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring”
  • “I have to work with young people today so that we try and raise new generations to look after this poor old planet better than we have, before it’s too late.” — Jane Goodall
  • “We are all musicians in a great human orchestra, and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony. You are not required to play a solo, but you are required to know what instrument you hold and play it as well as you can. You are required to find your place in the score. What we love we must protect.” — Sandra Steingraber