“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
by Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist
"As a leader, you have to have soul, brain, heart, muscles, and nerves.”
Professor Klaus Schwab: Leadership For The Intelligence Age
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
by Robert Swan, the first person in history to walk to both the North and South Pole
“Sometimes you need to follow your heart and not your mind, because the mind is always rational, the heart is always about passion.”
Jaideep Bansal: Delivering Sustainable Development Across Remote Communities in India
“Nature is our biggest ally and greatest inspiration.”
by David Attenborough, a British broadcaster, biologist and natural historian
“You as an individual can make a difference, so start small and see where it takes you. It can be very small, but small things can turn into big things.”
Rhett Butler: Nature’s Advocate, Scaling Mongabay and Driving Global Impact Through Environmental Journalism
“We don't own the planet Earth, we belong to it. And we must share it with our wildlife.”
by Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert and conservationist.
“Life is about finding what you want to do and do it with deep love and passion.”
Krithi Karanth: From Conflict to Coexistence, the Human Dimension in Wildlife Conservation
"Our biggest threat is that we have a very utilitarian way of seeing nature."
Tom Crowther: Biodiversity, the Interconnectedness of Nature and Empowering Local Stewards of Land
“Only when we have learned to live with both our mind and our heart in harmony can we reach our true human potential.”
by Jane Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist
"Be kind to yourself - understand that you're not your thoughts and don't give power to negative thought patterns."
Jennifer Wu
“Only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our true potential.”
by Dr. Jane Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist
"Life is sacred, Gaia is alive, we are part of her. We're not fighting for nature, we are nature fighting for itself."
Atossa Soltani: Amazonia Calling, Gaia Hypothesis and an Urgent Message From the Rainforest
“We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do."
by Sylvia Earle, an American marine biologist, oceanographer and explorer
"We are losing coral reefs rapidly, a major part of the global biodiversity. Once you lose those species and those genes, you never get them back.”
David Obura: Coral Reef Conservation and Addressing Climate Challenges Through Equity and Trust
“We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.”
by Brian Cox, an experimental particle physicist and a musician
"(The universe) is still a mystery to a large extent, (uncovering) it has to do with what we intrinsically are as human beings."
Fabiola Gianotti
"Let's build bridges, not walls."
by Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights leader
"We have to unlock massive capital to transform economies, not only to transition, but also to repair damages and restore."
Patrick Odier
“What we see changes who we are.”
JR, a French photographer and street artist
"Instead of pursuing success, I decided to focus on cultivating the conditions for success to become inevitable."
Benjamin von Wong: Catalyzing Hope and Imagination for a Solarpunk Future
“Take courage friends. The way is often hard, the path is never clear, and the stakes are very high. Take courage. For deep down, there is another truth: you are not alone.”
by Wayne Arnason, an American Unitarian Universalist minister
"There's always a spiritual basis, even when it's not explicit. It's the recognition of our mutual humanity, our respect for each other."
Karen Tse: International Bridges To Justice and Ending Torture as an Investigative Tool
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
by Albert Einstein, a German-born theoretical physicist
"I recognize myself as a human being and part of a whole. If we all work on transformation, on being more conscious, then the world will become a better place.”
Loic Le Meur: Consciousness, Self-Transformation and Exploring the Mysterious
"It is the ashes that gave birth to the fire."
African Proverb
"A challenge is an opportunity to realize a new solution and find the joy in that journey."
Peter Nyeko: A Mission of Joy and Hope Through Clean Energy
“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
by Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer and entrepreneur
"The biggest drive for entrepreneurs is the ability and the audacity to hope."
Tracey Chang: Confidence, Happiness and Beauty with Power
"ChatGPT and AI, etc. have the potential for enormous benefit but also enormous abuse."
Subra Suresh: Global Learning Council and Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Education
“The function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.”
by Bruce Lee, a Chinese-American martial artist, actor and philosopher
"The moment we let go of our egos, we can actually have a real conversation and we can actually find forgiveness."
Jaeson Ma: The Power of Forgiveness and Re-defining Success
“My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature.”
by Jane Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist
"Imagine if all that intelligence could be put at the service of regenerative economy...”
Sofia de Meyer and Sofi Khwaja: Disrupting Industries and Systems-Based Approach to Regenerative Economies
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
by Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist
"In life people go through hardships, but these hardships are what broaden your comfort zone."
Desh Deshpande: On Entrepreneurship and Impact
"The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river."
by Ross Perot, an American business magnate, politician and philanthropist
"Don’t always look outside of yourself (for hope). Find that space to tap into your breath, to have your feet in the soil, go and do some volunteer work that connects you to real things, real places, real output."
Barney Swan: Growing Up Off-Grid, Polar Explorations and Restoring the World’s Oldest Rainforest
“Out beyond the worlds of right-doings and wrong-doings, there is a field. I will meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase 'each other' longer makes any sense."
by Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and a Sufi mystic
"I'm someone who is committed to living in my truth, to speaking my truth, and to being my truth."
Zainab Salbi: A Journey of Hope and Resilience, From Conflict Zones To Climate Activism
"The more comfortable we are and can assimilate risk and navigate through stressful or riskier situations, the more solid and resilient we are as entrepreneurs.”
Meagan Fallone
“The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.”
by Jonathan Larson, an American composer and playwright
"I don't let a day pass without improvement, without learning, without making a change."
Ahmad Joudeh: Dance or Die, From Stateless Refugee To International Ballet Star
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher and poet
"The biggest opportunity is on the other side of the biggest challenges."
Bill Shufelt: Crafting Fulfillment with Non-Alcoholic Brew
“Sometimes it's the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”
by Alan Turing, an English mathematician, computer scientist and cryptanalyst
"To be truly happy and peaceful, we need to let go of what is unnecessary in life."
Venerable Monk Burin: Wisdom From the Silent Mind and World Peace Through Inner Peace
“I looked in temples, churches and mosques, but I found the divine within my heart.”
by Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and a Sufi mystic
"There is, within each one of us, access to a certain kind of divine energy, which gives us a secret connection with the divine source."
Professor Elaine Pagels: The Gnostic Gospels and the Divine Within
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, philosopher and poet
“It's about having the courage to live out your dreams, no matter how difficult things can get sometimes.”
Jennifer Wu: Overcoming Fear and Finding Flow - My Personal Journey of Launching The Founder Spirit Podcast
"I am the water and the water is me."
- a Maori proverb
"The hardest thing you ever do is also the most meaningful."
Sarah Cameron Sunde: Galvanizing Climate Action with 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea
“Elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside.”
by Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer and entrepreneur
"By changing our behavior through the power of etiquette, we change our lives."
Sara Jane Ho: Transforming Lives Through the Power of Etiquette
“You can't force your will on people. If you want them to act differently, you need to inspire them to change themselves.”
by Phil Jackson, a former professional basketball player and coach of the Chicago Bulls
“Burnout is the reason every startup company fails.”
Coach Leighroy: Thriving Through Growth, Structure, and Overcoming Burnout - Insights from Peak Performance Sport
“Failure is a stepping stone, not a tombstone.”
by Tom Szaky, on how he first saw America as a Hungarian-Canadian immigrant
“What really separates successful entrepreneurs is the ability to grind.”
Tom Szaky: Unlocking the Value of Waste & Turning Trash Into Cash
“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
by Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, and founder of Taoism.
“We need to reconcile with all dimensions of ourselves, our relationship with others and with nature... With climate change, we are confronted with the end of human life on the planet. This calls for deep work on our consciousness."
Tristan Lecomte: Revolutionizing Supply Chain Sustainability & Climate Change
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
by Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer explorer and philanthropist, best known for being the first climber confirmed to have reached the top of Everest in 1953 along with his sherpa Tenzing Norgay
"One of the key things is to understand there are no limits to your knowledge (and) understanding what you can do.”
Masha Gordon: The Explorer's Grand Slam & Conquering Personal Mountains
“It always seems impossible until it's done.”
Nelson Mandela, Apartheid activist the former President of South Africa
“You can't incremental your way through a turnaround situation. It takes big bold thinking. You got to take sometimes a hatchet to the whole idea and rethink it from the ground up. ”
Amit Munshi: The Secrets of His Success in Biotechnology
"The ideal would be to have the heart in the head and the brain in the chest. So we would think with love and love with wisdom.”
Mafalda, Claudia's childhood hero and a progressive youth concerned about humanity and world peace
“Fear is not going to be the driver of your life, and we should all strive to feel and to live fear free, if not fearless."
Claudia Romo Edelman: The Modern-Day Mafalda & We Are All Human
"Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever."
by Walt Disney, an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur
“It's okay to fail and it's hard. You think you're never going to be able to do something again because the pain is so acute sometimes. But then you'll find a way and you just have to have faith in yourself.”
Mike Ang: The Pursuit of Happiness Across His Land of Dreams
"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others."
by Salvador Dali, the famous Spanish surrealist artist
"That element of having joy, there's nothing more sacred; it gets to the core of humanity - what make us human. That one moment really showed me, even in the darkest of environments, that's where the most light can exist."
Max Frieder: Uplifting Communities in Crisis with the Power of Art
“You have to chase your dreams, no matter what. The impossible just takes a little bit longer. One stroke at a time. One step at a time. The impossible is easy to achieve.”
by Tori Murden, the first woman to ever row solo across the Atlantic Ocean
"Knowing that I'm capable of making every single choice on my own, getting a deeper look into my soul and opening up that door gave me an endless amount of possibilities of how I want to lead my life."
Gabi Schenkel: Solo Crossing of the Atlantic, Ultra-Running & the Power of Loneliness
''The center of your heart is where life begins, the most beautiful place on earth.''
by Rumi, a 13th Century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and a Sufi mystic
“There is a huge store of resources within life with a big L that can propel us into a different state, which we don't know what it is yet, and we're in that in between zone where the old system is dying and things have to change.”
Nicole Schwab: The Sacred Feminine, Gender Equality and Earth-Centered Wisdom from the Heart of Her Labyrinth
"Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."
by John Wooden, former head basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins
"Each time you lose, you just get closer to your next win. Sports have a really powerful lesson there in that you will face constant failure on a daily basis. You have to deal with those failures and learn from them, essentially wipe it out of your mind and start with a clean slate."
Nathan J. Anderson: Building Successful Startups by Adopting the Player’s Mindset
“Just start - don’t wait for perfection. Just start and let the work teach you. Your job is not to be perfect, your job is only to be human."
by Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen, author of “The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World"
"With very little understanding of nonprofit work, actually absolutely no understanding of nonprofit work, I decided I would start a small nonprofit just to help a few grandmas in Egypt."
Heather Ibrahim Leathers: How I Built the World's Largest NGO Dedicated to Widows
