Paul Hawken Quotes

Quotes about:

• When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.

  Paul Hawken

  Optimistic, Odds, Order

  "Paul Hawken: programming a new operating system for civilization" by James Epstein-Reeves and Ellen Weinreb, www.theguardian.com. September 23, 2013.

  50 Copy quote

• Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

  Paul Hawken

  Art, Business, Top Management

  Paul Hawken (1988). “Growing a Business”, p.39, Simon and Schuster

  90 Copy quote

• Business is the only mechanism on the planet today powerful enough to produce the changes necessary to reverse global environments and social degradation.

  Paul Hawken

  Powerful, Degradation, Today

  Commonwealth Club of San Francisco Speech, www.theguardian.com. 1992.

  41 Copy quote

• The great thing about the dilemma we're in is that we get to re-imagine every single thing we do...There isn't a single thing that doesn't require a complete remake. There are two ways of looking at that. One is: Oh my gosh, what a big burden. The other way, which I prefer, is: What a great time to be born! What a great time to be alive! Because this generation gets to essentially completely change the world.

  Paul Hawken

  Change, Two, This Generation

  30 Copy quote

• All is connected ... no one thing can change by itself.

  Paul Hawken

  Change, Rivers, Environmental

  49 Copy quote

• What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.

  Paul Hawken

  Encouragement, Odds, Order

  47 Copy quote

• Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act.

  Paul Hawken

  Party, Healing, Persistence

  Paul Hawken (2007). “Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beau ty to the World”, p.14, Penguin

  17 Copy quote

• The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous, and enduring, and thus more intelligent, even competitive.

  Paul Hawken

  Inspiring, Future, Intelligent

  31 Copy quote

• Sustainability is an economic state where the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations. It can also be expressed in the simple terms of an economic golden rule for the restorative economy: Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do.

  Paul Hawken

  Simple, People, Trying

  "The Ecology of Commerce". Book by Paul Hawken, 1993.

  6 Copy quote

• First we need to decide what needs to be done. Then we do it. And then we ask if it is possible.

  Paul Hawken

  Needs, Done, Firsts

  7 Copy quote

• The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them

  Paul Hawken

  Future, Vision, Trying

  "Experts: Big Hurricanes in Future", www.wired.com. October 2, 2005.

  22 Copy quote

• Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night, and we watch television.

  Paul Hawken

  Inspirational, Life, Religious

  "You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring". Paul Hawken's commencement speech at University of Portland in Oregon, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 2, 2014.

  31 Copy quote

• My advice for people is to love the world they are in, in whatever way makes sense to them. It may be a devotional practice, it may be song or poetry, it may be by gardening, it may be as an activist, scientist, or community leader. The path to restoration extends from our heart to the heart of sentient beings, and that path will be different for every person.

  Paul Hawken

  Song, Heart, Practice

  23 Copy quote

• We have an economy that tells us it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet.

  Paul Hawken

  Business, Real, Bail

  "You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring". Paul Hawken's commencement speech at the University of Portland in Oregon, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 2, 2014.

  21 Copy quote

• Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

  Paul Hawken

  Giving Up, People, Needs

  Paul Hawken's Commencement Address to the Class at the University of Portland, www.commondreams.org. May 3, 2009.

  20 Copy quote

• Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.

  Paul Hawken

  Life, Happiness, Success

  22 Copy quote

• The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

  Paul Hawken

  Running, Night, Sight

  Paul Hawken's Commencement Address at University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 2, 2014.

  8 Copy quote

• At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product.

  Paul Hawken

  Calling, Stealing, Selling

  Paul Hawken's Commencement Address at University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 2, 2014.

  6 Copy quote

• Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider.

  Paul Hawken

  Spiritual, Inspiration, Humanity

  Paul Hawken's Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, www.commondreams.org. May 3, 2009.

  7 Copy quote

• Business is correct to defend its right to act in order to produce a vigorous and engaging prosperity. But it is wrong if it forgets that this freedom can only be experienced within the discipline of social responsibility.

  Paul Hawken

  Responsibility, Order, Discipline

  4 Copy quote

• You are Brilliant and the Earth is Hiring.

  Paul Hawken

  Earth, Brilliant, Hiring

  Paul Hawken's Commencement Address at University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 2, 2014.

  7 Copy quote

• The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer.

  Paul Hawken

  Dreamer, World, Cynic

  18 Copy quote

• Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

  Paul Hawken

  Earth, Way, Rich

  Paul Hawken's commencement address to the Class of 2009 at the University of Portland in Oregon, www.commondreams.org. May 3, 2009.

  6 Copy quote

• While there may be no "right" way to value a forest or a river, there is a wrong way, which is to give it no value at all. How do we decide the value of a 700-year-old tree? We need only to ask how much it would cost to make a new one, or a new river, or even a new atmosphere.

  Paul Hawken

  Years, Rivers, Giving

  4 Copy quote

• Only caring individuals can restore the places we inhabit. The 'simple act of planting a tree' not only restores the places we live, but makes us whole and powerful again.

  Paul Hawken

  Powerful, Caring, Simple

  17 Copy quote

Page 1 of 4

← Prev

1

2

3

4

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin