Margaret Mead

Life in the twentieth century is like a parachute jump: you have to get it right the first time.

It is an open question whether any behaviour based on fear of eternal punishment can be regarded as ethical or should be regarded as merely cowardly.

One of the oldest human needs is having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night.

Children not only have to learn what their parents learned in school, but also have to learn how to learn. This has to be recognized as a new problem which is only partly solved.

We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.

We have nowhere else to go . . . this is all we have.

It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.