“The most important thing to me is that wealth has allowed me to live a full life, rich with experiences. I see wealth more as a means to experience than a way to acquire things. It has also given me control over my own time.”— Robert Rosenkranz
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
This year our footprint has gone down, but that has come at a huge human cost. There's no way we can aspire to decarbonise the way we have done this year, that's not responsible, the human cost cannot be sustained. We need responsible decarbonisation that creates jobs, creates wellbeing, and leaves the climate net better at the end.
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
Most people think of optimism as a celebration, but for us optimism is a courageous choice to remain grittily determined to find solutions in a timely and collaborative way. We have no choice but to address climate change, and thus we have no choice but to remain stubbornly optimistic.
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
It's sad that we don't immediately see the profound injustices embedded in climate change. It is precisely those people who have no responsibility for having caused climate change who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate.
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
If you don't believe in climate change, it is like telling me you don't believe in gravity. I don't care if you don't believe in gravity and I don't care if you don't believe in climate change… both are affecting you, and there's nothing you can do to deny or neutralize either of them.
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
I was a young mother with 2 small daughters and saw that the planet I was bringing my children into was one that was already severely diminished compared to the planet I received from my parents. How can any parent want their children to inherit a planet that's worse than the one they received?
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
As long as you keep your mind in the game, your body will follow. You convince your body through your mind. I've never heard anyone say, 'well, I was going to quit, but my body pulled me through…' it's your mind that pulls you through, and your body follows.
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
The key to getting over war is to talk about it. Nobody will think of you as the weak link- they'll either help you, point you to help, or perhaps even tell you they're going through the same. We all need to be more open; we're all going through something and communication is important.
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
When you first go to war as a young guy, it's almost like you want to get into combat. Quickly though, you realise that these are real people! You have to bring the human element to the fore. At first it was let's go to war… then it was let's do the right thing… and then it was why are we even doing this?
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
You need to master the basics and do the little things right. If you want to do something well you do it 1,000 times, if you want to do something great you do it 10,000 times. There's an old warrior saying, the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
I was a semi-chubby white kid from Montana who couldn't swim. I became a Navy SEAL who ended-up in Osama bin Laden's bedroom on a Tier 1 Mission to take down the #1 terrorist in the world. My life is proof that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want.
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
Fear is healthy, fear is natural, and if anyone's ever told you they've been to combat and were never afraid… they're either lying or a sociopath. Fear is a very good reaction; it makes you think more clearly. The fine line is panic. Panic is contagious- if one person panics, everyone panics. Fear is healthy, but panic is contagious. As a leader, you also realise that calm is contagious.
— Robert O’NeillFormer Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden in 2011
In the West, politicians will say anything and not care about it- they'll be out of office by the time they would be held to account. The Chinese tend to under-promise and over-perform, they don't want to lose face.
— James ThorntonEnvironmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth
In China, we have been working closely with the Chinese Supreme Court prosecutors and administrative environment. In the last two years, these prosecutors have initiated over 100,000 cases- they do things in a big way- and want to transform the landscape such that companies know they will get hammered if they don't comply.
— James ThorntonEnvironmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth
If you or I buy an organic veggie-burger, that's great, but we're swimming against billions in subsidies. These are changes which will require government action at the highest level, consumer action alone will not get us there.
— James ThorntonEnvironmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth
We can't only rely on consumers making individual choices. If you switched your energy to someone who told you they are selling you 100% renewable energy, that's great, but it doesn't shift the energy system to renewables. You need to have energy markets that are designed to encourage investment into renewable energy.
— James ThorntonEnvironmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth
By the middle of century, the temperature and humidity in parts of the world will be so high at parts of the year that the human system will not be able to cool itself, you are effectively being cooked. One of the places this will happen first, with potentially grave consequences, is the Arabian Peninsula- disrupting Hajj.
— James ThorntonEnvironmental lawyer and founder of ClientEarth