45 Earth Day quotes to honor Mother Nature

You bring the cake and we'll supply the quotes because it's time to throw a party for Mother Nature.

While every day should be Earth Day, the official holiday falls on April 22 each year. Sure, the day brings plenty of fun, but it's really a reminder that should we fail in our stewardship of the planet, eventually we might not be around to enjoy it.

To commemorate more than half century of environmental awareness, we've rounded up a collection of Earth Day quotes to remind you exactly what makes the "Blue Planet" so special.

But first, a little history: Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was deeply concerned with the impact pollution and toxic waste were having on the environment, created Earth Day in the spring on 1970.

Since then, it’s become one of the largest observances in the world with more than a billion people getting involved in Earth Day activities to help preserve the third rock from the sun, aka our home sweet home.

There are so many big and small ways to get involved on Earth Day, everything from planting trees in your backyard to creating a neighborhood compost.

However you choose to recognize this international day of environmentalism, let the voices of these advocates, poets, politicians and other supporters inspire you to join in making the world a better place.

• "... a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children." ― Wendell Berry
• “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. 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
• "Do unto those downstream as you have those upstream do unto you." — Wendell Berry
• “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
• "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 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"
• "... 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
• "You have to hold yourself accountable for your actions, and that’s how we’re going to protect the Earth." — Julia Butterfly Hill 
• "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
• "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
• "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
• “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
• “You just have to keep a fire in your belly, and you just go for it, and when you do, you can make a tremendous difference.” ― Celia Hunter
• "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
• "What a country chooses to save is a what a country chooses to say about itself." ― Mollie Beattie
• "We are the environment and how we treat each other is really how we treat the environment." ― John Francis
• “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
• "The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow." — Dian Fossey

• "In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life." — Vandana Shiva
• "We can't save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard." — Leah Thomas, "The Intersectional Environmentalist"
• “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 climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.” — António Guterres
• “The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.”— 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. So instead of looking for hope — start creating it.” — 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”
• “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
• “Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” — Charles Moore
• “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