A Quote by Garrett Hardin
Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.
Related Quotes
The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another . . . But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit — in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.
Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
Out of the best and most productive years of each man's life, he should carve a segment in which he puts his private career aside to serve his community and his country, and thereby serve his children, his neighbours, his fellow men, and the cause of freedom.
[M]odern society is indeed often, at least in surface appearance, nothing but a collection of strangers, each pursuing his or her own interests under minimal constraints.
Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.
By pursuing his own interest (the individual) frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
Each individual member of a co-operative society works with that interest which is inseparable from the new position he enjoys. Each has an interest in the other.
A society that does not recognise that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.
Human society is made up of partialities. Each citizen has an interest and a view of his own, which, if followed out to the extreme, would leave no room for any other citizen.
An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest possible degree of freedom in pursuing their interests compatible with the interests of others.
All do not develop in the same manner, or at the same pace. Nations, like men, often march to the beat of different drummers, and the precise solutions of the United States can neither be dictated nor transplanted to others. What is important is that all nations must march toward increasing freedom; toward justice for all; toward a society strong and flexible enough to meet the demands of all its own people, and a world of immense and dizzying change.
We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds... A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.
Each man seeks his own interest, not the general interest. Let his own selfish interests be touched, and all concord is at an end.
A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few.
If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably—after careful considerations of their relative merits—choose that of his own country. Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.
Related Authors
Aldo Leopold Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Bill McKibben Quotes
American
Environmentalist
David R. Brower Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Donella Meadows Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Greta Thunburg Quotes
Swedish
Environmentalist
John Muir Quotes
American
Environmentalist
John Ray Quotes
English
Environmentalist
Jonathon Porritt Quotes
British
Environmentalist
Joseph Wood Krutch Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Lester R. Brown Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Luther Burbank Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Ma Jun Quotes
Chinese
Environmentalist
Paul Hawken Quotes
American
Environmentalist
Paul Watson Quotes
Canadian
Environmentalist
Richard Leakey Quotes
Kenyan
Environmentalist
Sheherazade Goldsmith Quotes
English
Environmentalist