“It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for the earth.
This last statement becomes obvious enough when it is considered that the earth is what we all have in common, that it is what we are made of and what we live from, and that we therefore cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. But I believe it goes farther and deeper than that. There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth. Between our relation to our own sexuality and our relation to the reproductivity of the earth, for instance, the resemblance is plain and strong. By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other.”

The Unsettling of America (1977), Chapter Seven : The Body and the Earth

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for the earth. This last statement becomes ob…" by Wendell Berry?
Wendell Berry photo
Wendell Berry 189
author 1934

Related quotes

Alexis Karpouzos photo
Louis De Bernières photo

“We should care for each other more than we care for ideas, or else we will end up killing each other.”

Louis De Bernières (1954) English novelist

Source: Corelli's Mandolin

Tenzin Gyatso photo

“Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

Nobel lecture (1989)
Context: Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity. We are dependent on each other in so many ways, that we can no longer live in isolated communities and ignore what is happening outside those communities, and we must share the good fortune that we enjoy.

Wendell Berry photo
W. H. Auden photo

“We are all on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I can't imagine.”

W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet

Often cited as by Auden without attribution, this quotation has been traced to John Foster Hall (1867-1945), an English comedian known as the Reverend Vivian Foster, Vicar of Mirth. Full history with sound recording http://audensociety.org/vivianfoster.html
Misattributed

Margrethe II of Denmark photo
Oprah Winfrey photo
Alexis Karpouzos photo
Marcus Brigstocke photo
Carl Sagan photo

“We need no longer be trapped in the genetically inherited behavior patterns of lizards and baboons: territoriality and aggression and dominance hierarchies. We are each of us largely responsible for what gets put in to our brains. For what as adults we wind up caring for and knowing about.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

34 min 00 sec
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990 Update), The Persistence of Memory [Episode 11]
Context: What distinguishes our species is thought. The cerebral cortex is in a way a liberation. We need no longer be trapped in the genetically inherited behavior patterns of lizards and baboons: territoriality and aggression and dominance hierarchies. We are each of us largely responsible for what gets put in to our brains. For what as adults we wind up caring for and knowing about. No longer at the mercy of the reptile brain we can change ourselves. Think of the possibilities.

Related topics