We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed, for our safety, to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work and the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave - to the ancient enemies of man - half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolution depends the survival of us all.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Compares Earth to a fragile spaceship requiring unity and shared responsibility for survival.
- In plain terms
- We are all on one spaceship (Earth) and must work together or we will crash.
- What can you take from it?
- Global unity is essential for survival.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you see your role on this planet?
- What does unity mean to you?
Another view
This view may be too idealistic about human ability to collaborate.
More from Adlai Stevenson
A diplomat's life is made up of three ingredients: protocol, Geritol and alcohol.
Permalink to quote #76 On this shrunken globe men can no longer live as strangers. Men can war against each other as hostile neighbors, as we are determined not to do; or they can co…
Permalink to quote #78 An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff.
Permalink to quote #75
Related quotes
United we stand, divided we fall, Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry quote #5 We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.
Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut quote #11 Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the vir…
Gore VidalGore Vidal quote #25