Quotes about fuel
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William Gibson photo
Bill Nye photo

“The single biggest impact a person can have on the Earth is driving a car, either driving a fuel-efficient car or just driving it less.”

Bill Nye (1955) American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, writer, scientist and former mechanical engineer

[NewsBank, Nye: We must all save the Earth, The Madison Courier, Madison, Indiana, February 21, 2009, Pat Whitney]

Ben Carson photo
Max Tegmark photo
Viktor Schauberger photo

“Whoever exploits retrograde oxidising processes must inevitably inaugurate a scarcity and shortage of food, raw materials and fuels”

Viktor Schauberger (1885–1958) austrian philosopher and inventor

Callum Coats: The Fertile Earth

William Stanley Jevons photo

“It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth.”

The Coal Question (1865)
Context: It is very commonly urged, that the failing supply of coal will be met by new modes of using it efficiently and economically.... It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth.

Alan Lightman photo

“Workers… rather have used their increased efficiencies and resulting increased disposable income to purchase more material goods. …Indeed, in a cruel irony, the workweek has actually lengthened. …More work is required to pay for more consumption, fueled by more production, in an endless, vicious circle.”

Alan Lightman (1948) Physicist, science writer, essayist, novelist

A Sense of the Mysterious : Science and the Human Spirit (2005), p. 200<!-- Pantheon Books isbn=0375423206 -->
Context: In the 1950s, academics forecast that as a result of new technology, by the year 2000 we could have a twenty-hour workweek. Such a development would be a beautiful example of technology at the service of the human being.... According to the Bureau of Statistics, the goods and services produced per hour of work in the United States has indeed more than doubled since 1950.... However, instead of reducing the workweek, the increased efficiencies and productivities have gone into increasing the salaries of workers.... Workers... rather have used their increased efficiencies and resulting increased disposable income to purchase more material goods.... Indeed, in a cruel irony, the workweek has actually lengthened.... More work is required to pay for more consumption, fueled by more production, in an endless, vicious circle.

David Deutsch photo

“To say that prediction is the purpose of a scientific theory is to confuse means with ends. It is like saying that the purpose of a spaceship is to burn fuel.”

Source: The Fabric of Reality (1997), Ch. 1
Context: To say that prediction is the purpose of a scientific theory is to confuse means with ends. It is like saying that the purpose of a spaceship is to burn fuel. … Passing experimental tests is only one of many things a theory has to do to achieve the real purpose of science, which is to explain the world.

George Eliot photo

“Her flame quickly burned up that light fuel; and, fed from within, soared after some illimitable satisfaction, some object which would never justify weariness, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self.”

Prelude
Middlemarch (1871)
Context: Who that cares much to know the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time, has not dwelt, at least briefly, on the life of Saint Theresa, has not smiled with some gentleness at the thought of the little girl walking forth one morning hand-in-hand with her still smaller brother, to go and seek martyrdom in the country of the Moors? Out they toddled from rugged Avila, wide-eyed and helpless-looking as two fawns, but with human hearts, already beating to a national idea; until domestic reality met them in the shape of uncles, and turned them back from their great resolve. That child-pilgrimage was a fit beginning. Theresa's passionate, ideal nature demanded an epic life: what were many-volumed romances of chivalry and the social conquests of a brilliant girl to her? Her flame quickly burned up that light fuel; and, fed from within, soared after some illimitable satisfaction, some object which would never justify weariness, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self. She found her epos in the reform of a religious order.

Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed”
Itaque adulescentes mihi mori sic videntur, ut cum aquae multitudine flammae vis opprimitur, senes autem sic, ut cum sua sponte nulla adhibita vi consumptus ignis exstinguitur; et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sunt, vix evelluntur, si matura et cocta, decidunt, sic vitam adulescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturitas; quae quidem mihi tam iucunda est, ut, quo propius ad mortem accedam, quasi terram videre videar aliquandoque in portum ex longa navigatione esse venturus.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

section 71 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0039%3Asection%3D71
Cato Maior de Senectute – On Old Age (44 BC)
Context: When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed; and, just as apples when they are green are with difficulty plucked from the tree, but when ripe and mellow fall of themselves, so, with the young, death comes as a result of force, while with the old it is the result of ripeness. To me, indeed, the thought of this "ripeness" for death is so pleasant, that the nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in his home port after a long voyage.

Lewis Pugh photo

“We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy.”

Lewis Pugh (1969) Environmental campaigner, maritime lawyer and endurance swimmer

Speaking & Features, Standing Up To Goliath
Context: Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay.

Miguna Miguna photo

“Money has never won any elections. Cartel propaganda fueled by evil, lies and malice will not emerge victorious against righteousness, integrity and vision”

Miguna Miguna (1962) lawyer, author and columnist

Facebook post in response to detractors, https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMigunaMiguna/posts/562185893970795,2016
2016
Context: In other words, the inept and malicious propaganda against me will not work. Money has never won any elections. Cartel propaganda fueled by evil, lies and malice will not emerge victorious against righteousness, integrity and vision. I represent hope and a fully liberated and cleaned up Nairobi while the cartels are determined to protect and fortify the rotten, corrupt and exploitative status quo.

Haruki Murakami photo

“People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive.”

After Dark
Context: People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far the maintenance of life is concerned. They are all just fuel. Advertising filler in the news paper, philosophy books, dirty pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills; when you feed them to fire, they are just paper. The fire isn't thinking 'oh This is Kant' or 'Oh This is Yomuri evening edition' or 'Nice tits', while it burns. To the fire, they are nothing but scraps of paper. It is the exact same thing. Important memories, not-so-important memories, totally useless memories : there is no distinction — they are all just fuel

Thomas Carlyle photo

“I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Prophet
Context: To the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people, roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world: a Hero-Prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe: see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great; within one century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on this hand, at Delhi on that;—glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a Nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century,—is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable sand; but lo, the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Grenada! I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.

Randy Pausch photo

“Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside.”

Randy Pausch (1960–2008) American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design

CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: You will need find your passion. Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take to your thirties or forties, but don't give up on finding it. Right, then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things, but only to the extent that they regard real respect from your peers. And to be thought of well by people you think of more highly up is a tremendous honor I've been granted. Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes.

Denis Papin photo

“If any one now will consider the magnitude of the forces to be obtained in this way, and the trifling expense at which a sufficient quantity of fuel can be procured, he will certainly admit that this my method is far preferable to the use of gunpowder”

Denis Papin (1647–1713) French physicist, mathematician and inventor

"A New Method of Obtaining Very Great Moving Powers at Small Cost" (1690)
Context: AA is a tube of uniform diameter throughout, close shut at the bottom; BB is a piston fitted to the tube; DD a handle fixed to the piston; EE an iron rod moveable round an axis in F; G a spring, pressing the cross rod EE, so that the said rod must be forced into the groove H as soon as the piston with the handle has arrived at such a height as that the said groove H appears above the lid II; L is a little hole in the piston, through which the air can escape from the bottom of the tube AA, when first the piston is forced into it. The use of this instrument is as follows: A small quantity of water is poured into the tube AA; to the depth of 3 or 4 lines; then the piston is inserted, and forced down to the bottom, till a portion of the water previously poured in comes through the hole L; then the said hole is closed by the rod MM. Next the lid II, pierced with the apertures requisite for that purpose, is put on, and a moderate fire being applied, the tube AA soon grows warm, (being made of thin metal), and the water within it, being turned into steam, exerts a pressure so powerful as to overcome the weight of the atmosphere and force up the piston BB, till the groove H of the handle DD appears above the lid II, and the rod EE is forced, with some noise, into the said groove by the spring G. Then forthwith the fire is to be removed, and the steam in the thin metal tube is soon resolved into water, and leaves the tube entirely void of air. Next, the rod EE being turned round so far as to come out of the groove H, and allow the handle DD to descend, the piston BB is forthwith pressed down by the whole weight of the atmosphere, and causes the intended movement, which is of an energy great in proportion to the size of the tube. Nor is it to be doubted that the whole weight of the atmosphere exerts its force in tubes so constructed; for I have established by experiment, that a piston, raised to the top of the tube by the force of heat, shortly afterwards descends again to the bottom, and so on alternately for a number of times, so that no suspicion can arise of air pressing beneath. Now my tube, the diameter of which does not exceed 2 &#189; inches, yet raises sixty lbs. aloft with the same velocity as the piston is forced down into the tube, and the tube itself scarcely weighs five ounces. I therefore have little doubt but that tubes may be manufactured, the weight of each of which would scarcely amount to 40 lbs., and yet which could raise, at each operation, two thousand lbs. to a height of four feet.... If any one now will consider the magnitude of the forces to be obtained in this way, and the trifling expense at which a sufficient quantity of fuel can be procured, he will certainly admit that this my method is far preferable to the use of gunpowder above spoken of, especially as in this way a perfect vacuum is obtained, and so the inconveniences above recounted are avoided.

Alex Salmond photo

“The future of the western economies in the coming decades will rest on their capacity to fuel economic growth whilst reducing our impact on the planet.”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Strategic objectives of new Government (May 23, 2007)
Context: The future of the western economies in the coming decades will rest on their capacity to fuel economic growth whilst reducing our impact on the planet. Scotland is not just part of that - in truth we are well placed to be a leader. Scotland sits at the heart of one of the wealthiest parts of our planet.

Freeman Dyson photo

“I have felt it myself. The glitter of nuclear weapons. It is irresistible if you come to them as a scientist. To feel it's there in your hands, to release this energy that fuels the stars, to let it do your bidding.”

Freeman Dyson (1923) theoretical physicist and mathematician

As quoted in The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (1981), a documentary film directed by Jon Else, written by David Peoples, Janet Peoples, and Jon Else.
Context: I have felt it myself. The glitter of nuclear weapons. It is irresistible if you come to them as a scientist. To feel it's there in your hands, to release this energy that fuels the stars, to let it do your bidding. To perform these miracles, to lift a million tons of rock into the sky. It is something that gives people an illusion of illimitable power, and it is, in some ways, responsible for all our troubles — this, what you might call technical arrogance, that overcomes people when they see what they can do with their minds.

Narendra Modi photo

“When the fires were raging these journalists were pouring fuel on those fires.”

Narendra Modi (1950) Prime Minister of India

2014, "Narendra Modi on the Role of NDTV during the 2002 Riots", 2014
Context: What is worse, when I got the matter enquired into by the local police, we found out that it was a small, insignificant structure under a tree which had been damaged a little bit by some crazy individual. But NDTV presented it as an attack on a Hanuman mandir. When the fires were raging these journalists were pouring fuel on those fires.

Reza Pahlavi photo
Chris Hedges photo
Antonie Pannekoek photo
Milton Friedman photo
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
Mary Robinson photo

“We have entered a new reality where fossil fuel companies have lost their legitimacy and social license to operate.”

Mary Robinson (1944) Former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Uses UN Press Conference to Denounce President Trump, Canada Free Press, Joseph A. Klein (13 June 2019)

Fausto Brizzi photo
Jerzy Vetulani photo

“Jurek had a feature rarely seen in an older adult – an unrestrained, almost childish curiosity of the world that fueled his activity in everyday life and did not allow him to age mentally. He liked to be on the move all the time, to go on trips, so as not to sit idle.”

Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017) Polish scientist

Irena Nalepa, a psychopharmacologist and long-time collaborator of Jerzy Vetulani. Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017). O mentorze, przyjacielu i niepokornym wirtuozie naukowej narracji http://kosmos.icm.edu.pl/PDF/2018/233.pdf (in Polish), Kosmos, 67 (2), s. 233–244, 2018.

Tulsi Gabbard photo

“How can you say Saudi Arabia is a great partner in fighting terrorism when they are fueling and funding terrorist groups in Yemen?”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

1 August 2019 https://www.foxnews.com/media/tulsi-gabbard-defends-debate-claim-that-trump-supports-al-qaeda-to-shannon-bream
2019

Dietrich Bonhoeffer photo

“The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law. The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties. The old Israel had been both — the chosen people of God and a national community, and it was therefore his will that they should meet force with force. But with the Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore it must patiently endure aggression. Otherwise evil will be heaped upon evil. Only thus can fellowship be established and maintained.
At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs. He is absolutely free from possessions and bound to Christ alone. Again, his witness to this exclusive adherence to Jesus creates the only workable basis for fellowship, and leaves the aggressor for him to deal with.
The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a stand-still because it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match. Of course this can only happen when the last ounce of resistance is abandoned, and the renunciation of revenge is complete. Then evil cannot find its mark, it can breed no further evil, and is left barren.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

Source: Discipleship (1937), Revenge, p. 141

Jacinda Ardern photo
Jason Reynolds photo

“Beyond our normal twenty-year outlook period, we recently attempted a forecast of the CO2 [carbon dioxide] build-up. We assumed different growth rates at different times, but with an average growth rate in fossil fuel use of about one percent per year starting today, our estimate is that the doubling of atmospheric CO2 levels might occur sometime late in the 21st century. That includes the impact of a synfuels industry. Assuming the greenhouse effect occurs, rising CO2 concentrations may begin to induce climactic changes around the middle of the 21st century.”

Edward E. David Jr. (1925–2017) American engineer

Keynote address at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory on the Palisades, New York campus of Columbia University (October 26, 1982) ( Inventing the Future: Energy and the CO2 "Greenhouse Effect", October 26, 1982, December 22, 2018, Exxon, w:Edward E. David Jr., Edward E., David Jr. http://www.climatefiles.com/exxonmobil/inventing-future-energy-co2-greenhouse-effect/,)

“New breakthrough technologies can make it easier, but we've already got, right now, everything we need to accomplish the task of transforming our energy economy away from fossil fuels. Except the willingness.”

Greg Craven American teacher and writer

Appendix (p. 218)
What's the Worst That Could Happen?: A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate (2009)

Marianne Williamson photo
Prevale photo

“You are the main motive that fuels beat of my heart.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

From the Quotes http://www.prevale.net/quotes.html page of the official website of Prevale
Original: (it) ​Sei il motivo principale che alimenta il battito del mio cuore.
Source: prevale.net

James Doolittle photo

“I will not be able to do anything until the air fields are captured and supplied with fuel, oil, ammunition, bombs, spare parts, and all the necessary ground personnel.”

James Doolittle (1896–1993) United States Air Force Medal of Honor recipient

In a response to General Dwight Eisenhower on the plans for the 1942 invasion of North Africa, as quoted in 1980 interview, "Jimmy Doolittle Reminiscences About World War II" https://www.historynet.com/jimmy-doolittle-reminiscences-about-world-war-ii.htm

James Howard Kunstler photo
James Howard Kunstler photo

“The age of fossil fuels is about to end. There is no replacement for them at hand.”

Source: The Long Emergency (2005), Chapter 2, p. 23.

James Howard Kunstler photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Matt Ridley photo
Ro Khanna photo

“Our demand for the Green New Deal must be stronger than fossil fuel lobbyists. Our demand for Medicare for All must be stronger than Big Pharma lobbyists. Our demand for Net Neutrality must be stronger than ISP lobbyists.”

Ro Khanna (1976) U.S. Representative from California

Source: Twitter post https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1078674235495796736 (28 December 2018)

Andrew R. Wheeler photo

“If another country wants to buy fossil fuel on the open market, they should look to the United States; we do everything in a much more environmentally conscious manner than anyone else.”

Andrew R. Wheeler (1964) 15th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Source: Exclusive—EPA’s Andrew Wheeler: Green New Deal Activists Don’t Want American ‘Energy Domination’ https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/02/exclusive-epa-administrator-andrew-wheeler-green-new-deal-activists-dont-want-american-energy-domination/ (2 March 2019)

Wojciech Polak photo

“One cannot expect the believers to deny one of the foundations of their faith, which is respect for every form of life, from conception to natural death. However, we cannot forget the commandment to love thy neighbour. It is the moral duty of a Christian to de-escalate conflicts, not fuel them.”

Wojciech Polak (1964) Polish priest

Source: Primate of Poland calls for de-escalation of abortion protests https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/primate-of-poland-calls-for-de-escalation-of-abortion-protests-17105 (27 October 2020)

Jose Romeo Lazo photo

“Allow our common home to rest from our throw-away culture, our addiction to consumption, to unlimited economic growth, and to the dirty and deadly fossil fuels. Let us open ourselves to the new normal of interconnectedness and interrelatedness. We are in this together.”

Jose Romeo Lazo (1949) Filipino Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Philippine Church flags off Season of Creation https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-09/philippines-church-society-celebrate-season-creation.html (3 September 2020)

Chris Hedges photo
Alfred Austin photo
Simu Liu photo

“Even when I was a struggling actor, I was writing scripts, which were terrible, but I was fueled by a belief that I had to create the door. The right door wasn’t always going to open for me. Sometimes I was going to have to just crash through it or build one where there was no door before.”

Simu Liu (1989) Chinese-born Canadian actor

Source: "‘Shang-Chi’ Star Simu Liu on “Betrayal” of ‘Kim’s Convenience’ Cancellation" in The Hollywood Reporter (21 May 2021) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/shang-chi-star-simu-liu-1234955154/

Prevale photo

“Be emotional, but do not be ashamed of your tears or your anger. Use it as fuel to build.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Siate emotivi, ma non vergognatevi delle vostre lacrime o della vostra rabbia. Usatele come carburante per costruire.
Source: prevale.net