“Today I choose to live with gratitude for the love that fills my heart, the peace that rests within my spirit, and the voice of hope that says all things are possible.”

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land. It is, at last, to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.”

“Because no matter who we are or where we come from, we’re all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy land to call home.”

“We should pay more attention to how we’re treating our mountains, how we’re treating our world, how we’re just treating everything. We’re just mistreating Mother Nature. That’s, like, being ugly to your mama, you know?”

“We really have the most beautiful planet in our solar system. None other can sustain life like we know it. None other has blue water and white clouds covering colorful landmasses filled with thriving, beautiful, living things like human beings.”

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are going.”

“A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea”

“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”

“The journey is the reward”

“For magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life – bird, insect, reptile, beast – for vast scale, Uganda is truly the Pearl of Africa.”

“I go to books and to nature as the bee goes to a flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.”

“I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart.”

“Mr. Darwin says so truly that a visit to the tropics (and such tropics) is like a visit to a new planet. This new wonder-world, so enchanting, tantalising, intoxicating…”

“Cities can be climate titans, using their might and muscle to make a decisive difference to bring down carbon emissions…”

“I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.”

“Ocean separates lands, not souls.”

“[If I didn’t travel so much,] maybe my perfect Sunday would be skin diving on a coral reef – not scuba diving, as skin diving is more physical, and I prefer the lightness of it. Skin diving means wearing just goggles. Oh, I could wear some trunks, maybe.”

“[Armed with the knowledge of our past, we can with confidence charter a course for our future.] Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle. We must take hold of it and forge the future with the past.”

“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.” – The Nomad: Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

“Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has never felt it? How can you explain the fascination of this vast, dusty continent, whose oldest roads are elephant paths? Could it be because Africa is the place of all our beginnings, the cradle of mankind, where our species first stood upright on the savannahs of long ago?”

“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

“The sky slowly pulled up its blue dress to reveal night.”

“Sport can open the door to peace in ways that exclusion and division do not”

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

“The world is reaching the tipping point beyond which climate change may become irreversible. If this happens, we risk denying present and future generations the right to a healthy and sustainable planet – the whole of humanity stands to lose.”

“It is essential for a sustainable economy to see natural resources as an asset, and wasteful or harmful use of those resources as risks.”

“The Commonwealth is a unique group of nations united by a willingness to collaborate for a common good: a ‘common wealth’” 📸 Kayak Lake Malawi

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” ~ Albert Einstein. 📸 Fish Eagle, Lake Malawi

“The world can use more light and less noise. More solvers and fewer blamers. More folks showing a better way and fewer folks complaining about how much better things used to be. More folks offering help and fewer folks wringing their hands about the problems. More hope bringers and fewer hope killers.” ~ Steve Goodier, motivational speaker & ordained minister 📸Lake Malawi island hop

“To make a difference in the world, you don’t have to be perfect, clever or beautiful. You just need to be kind.”

“If it is true that love is the pursuit in another of qualities we lack in ourselves, then in our love of someone from another culture, one ambition may be to weld ourselves more closely to values missing from our own culture.”

“Protecting wetlands is protecting our water. And protecting water is protecting life itself.”

“I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.”

“Let the blue of the sky and ocean take your blue away when you feel blue”.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.”

“(1) First, give yourself permission to be a contrarian, to flout convention, to follow the unsafe path, to zig when everyone else zags; then (2) take some action to get going. Allow yourself to try; then try.”

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

“We could all do with a bit more joy in our lives couldn’t we? The wonderful thing is that when we start spreading joy, we begin to actually experience more joy in our lives too!”

“Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.”

“It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.”

“Everyone knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now help me spread the word about #GivingTuesday.”

“Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”

“When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”

“Science is essential to peacebuilding because it offers practical, sustainable solutions to contemporary global challenges.”

“[I believe that]companies, as major employers, resource managers, technological innovators, and capital allocators, have a unique responsibility to operate with integrity, transparency, and accountability.”

“Founded on the principles of private initiative, entrepreneurship and self-employment, underpinned by the values of democracy, equality and solidarity, the co-operative movement can help pave the way to a more just and inclusive economic order.”

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax”

“Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act.”

“The future of wildlife and the habitat that they depend on is being destroyed. It is time to make nature and all the beauty living within it our priority.”

“Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protect the planet.”

“No one in the world needs a Rhino horn but a Rhino.”

“Instead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts.”

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

“You have to hold yourself accountable for your actions, and that’s how we’re going to protect the Earth.”

“Water is the matter and matrix of life, mother and medium. Without water there is no life.”

“Humanitarian response, sustainable development, and sustaining peace are three sides of the same triangle.”

“The mountains are calling, and I must go.”

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

“A rebirth out of spiritual adversity causes us to become new creatures”.

January (Ianuarius) is named after the Latin word for #door (ianua), as the door to the year and an opening to new beginnings. Conventionally thought of as named after #Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology, revered as the ‘Lord of Beginnings’, ‘God of Gateways’, ‘of Doorways’ and ‘of the Journey’.

“When you go to see the lake, you also see the hippos.”

“Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships or trains… large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places.”

“it appears that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries.”

‘There is a great need for the introduction of new values in our society, where bigger is not necessarily better, where slower can be faster, and where less can be more.’

“The world is full of wonderful things you haven’t seen yet. Don’t ever give up on the chance of seeing them.”

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

‘Jobs fill your pocket. Adventures fill your soul.’

“In order to slow down climate change, we must solve four seemingly unsolvable problems. We must eliminate poverty. We must change the unsustainable lifestyles of so many of us. We must abolish corruption. And we must think about our growing human population…But I believe we have a window of time to have an impact.”