3 Duke of Edinburgh Philip Quotes on Ethics

Duke of Edinburgh Philip quotes on ethics

4. ...man must accept responsibilities in proportion to his power and, if we are to exercise these responsibilities so that all life can continue on earth, they must have a moral and philosophical basis. Simple self-interest, economic profit and absolute materialism are no longer enough... It has been made perfectly clear that a concern for any part of life on this planet - human, plant or animal, wild or tame - is a concern for all life. A threat to any part of the environment is a threat to the whole environment, but we must have a basis of assessment of these threats, not so that we can establish a priority of fears, but so that we can make a positive contribution to improvement and ultimate survival.

24. Upon presenting a Duke of Edinburgh Award to a student, when informed that the young man was going to help out in Romania for six months, he asked if the student was going to help the Romanian orphans; upon being informed he was not, it was claimed the 85-year-old duke added: 'Ah good, there's so many over there you feel they breed them just to put in orphanages.'[7]

29. In 1987, he wrote in his foreword to If I Were an Animal that 'In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.'[10]