Quotessence
Home / Authors / Al Gore
Al Gore

Al Gore Quotes

Former Vice President of the United States

Filter quotes by topic

AllClimate ChangePeopleCrisisClimateGlobal WarmingWorldEnvironmentEnergyIfsThinkingEarthGoreYearsPoliticalWayNeedsKnowsCivilizationCountryLong

Famous Al Gore Quotes

“I support the death penalty. I think that it has to be administered not only fairly, with attention to things like DNA evidence, which I think should be used in all capital cases, but also with very careful attention. If the wrong guy is put to death, then that's a double tragedy. Not only has an innocent person been executed but the real perpetrator of the crime has not been held accountable for it, and in some cases may be still at large. But I support the death penalty in the most heinous cases.”

IfsThinkingShouldMayPersonsStillsRealUsedGuyAttentionCasesSupportCrimeEvidenceTragedyCarefulInnocentPenaltiesDnaDeath PenaltyPerpetratorsInnocent PersonWrong GuyDna Evidence
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.”

IfsInspirationalHumansHappensHuman BeingsHappenedSafeAssumingClimateEverydayClimate ChangeVulnerableExceptionConfusingUnprecedentedImprobable
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“If there is no cost to be paid for the indiscriminate dumping of pollution into the earth's atmosphere, then it should be a surprise to no one that today we will dump another 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet. ... We have to [act] this year, not next year. Mother Nature does not do bailouts.”

IfsShouldYearsDoeTodayEarthMotherNextMillionsPlanetsCostPaidSurpriseAtmosphereGlobal WarmingPollutionShellsOur PlanetNext YearMother NatureDumpBailouts
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“We need to put a price on carbon, and that's what cap-and-trade does and that's also what a CO2 tax does. As long as our current valuation in the marketplace tells us every minute of every day that it's perfectly all right to dump 90 million tons of global warming into the thin atmosphere surrounding the planet every 24 hours as if that atmosphere is an open sewer, then the individual actions are not going to solve the problem.”

IfsNeedsLongDoeProblemActionIndividualHoursMillionsMinutesPlanetsTaxesTradeCurrentsSolveAtmosphereGlobal WarmingCarbonMarketplaceCapsDumpCo2SewersValuation
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“If you allow someone like Saddam Hussein to get nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, how many people is he going to kill with such weapons? He's already demonstrated a willingness to use these weapons. He poison-gassed his own people. He used poison gas and other weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors. This man has no compunction about killing lots and lots of people. So this is a way to save lives and to save the stability and peace of a region of the world that is important to the peace and security of the entire world.”

PeopleIfsMenWorldWayImportantUseUsedSecurityWeaponsMassDestructionKillingNeighborNuclearPoisonGasRegionsWillingnessChemicalsStabilityNuclear WeaponsSaddamHusseinMissilesWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionSave A LifeChemical WeaponsPeace And SecurityBiological WeaponsCompunctionPoison Gas
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“The truth is that we're at a critical juncture in the history of our species and if we don't act soon, we could inhabit a world we don't recognize anymore. But the most important truth is that we are capable of stopping climate change before the worst of its consequences are locked in. The solutions exist - all we need is the will to do something about it.”

IfsWorldNeedsImportantWorstTruth IsCapableSolutionsConsequenceClimateSpeciesClimate ChangeCriticalLockedStoppingJuncture
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“If you look at the way all of the new reform movements dedicated to the public interest are living and thriving on the Internet, I do think there is still some considerable hope that the full participation of individuals in that conversation of democracy can once again restore the integrity of the way our democracy works.”

IfsThinkingWayLooksStillsIndividualInterestDemocracyMovementInternetIntegrityConversationReformDedicatedParticipationPublic InterestReform Movements
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“I'm still trying to figure out exactly what President Trump represents in American politics. But, if nothing else, he represents a way for tens of millions of people who were desperate for change to just turn the table over and say, we want to start over again. But it is a challenge for our democracy. It definitely is. But, again, the remedy has to be devoting enough attention to restoring the way we make collective decisions in this country.”

PeopleIfsWayWantTryingStillsCountryEnoughTurnsPresidentChallengesDecisionAttentionMillionsDemocracyFiguresTrumpTablesDesperateCollectivesRemedyAmerican PoliticsStarting OverRestoring
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels... If we succeed, we create booming new industries, wealth, clean secure energy and maybe we prevent the greatest disaster so far in human history, saving millions of lives while improving billions more. If we fail, basically it's business as usual while things slowly get worse all around us.”

IfsHumansEndsEnergyWealthAnswersMillionsFailingIndustrySucceedCleanBillionsDisasterSecureSavingFuelUsualCarbonImprovingHuman HistoryReliance
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“There are many who still do not believe that global warming is a problem at all. And it's no wonder: because they are the targets of a massive and well-organized campaign of disinformation lavishly funded by polluters who are determined to prevent any action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming out of a fear that their profits might be affected if they had to stop dumping so much pollution into the atmosphere.”

IfsBelieveWellsStillsProblemMightActionCausesWonderEnvironmentDeterminationEnvironmentalProfitDeterminedCampaignsAtmosphereOrganizedGlobal WarmingGasTargetMassiveAffectedPollutionEmissionsGreenhousesGreenhouse Gases
Book:The Assault on Reason: Our Information Ecosystem, from the Age of Print to the Era of Trump
Create image

“...the debate among the scientists if over. There is no more debate. We face a planetary emergency. There is no more scientific debate among serious people who've looked at the science...Well, I guess in some quarters, there's still a debate over whether the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona, or whether the Earth is flat instead of round.”

PeopleIfsWellsStillsEarthFacesScienceEnergyEnvironmentSeriousMoonScientistRoundsClimate ChangeDebateFlatsQuartersEmergenciesLandingArizonaMoon Landing
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“What's at risk [in 100 years] if we do not take action, truly is the survival of civilization as we know it... Literally that is the case. We have seen global warming so far of just a little bit less than one degree Celsius and look at what's happened. Superstorm Sandy. Boulder Colorado. All these fires. Hurricane Irene one year before.”

IfsKnowsYearsLooksLittlesActionBitsCasesFireRiskHappenedCivilizationDegreesLittle BitSurvivalClimate ChangeGlobal WarmingHurricanesColoradoSandyBouldersSuperstorm Sandy
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet's climate system into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced - a catastrophe of our own making.”

IfsWorldYearsHumanityPlanetsTenMajorsSittingDestructionScientistMajorityClimateWaveExtremesWeatherHeatBombsKillersFloodTailsEpicCatastropheInvolvingEpidemicsDroughtAvertTime BombExtreme WeatherHeat Wave
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don’t think there’s a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.”

IfsThinkingBelieveStillsStatesProblemAmericaPoliticsGivenI BelieveUnitedUnited StatesAudienceDangerousSolutionsCrisisStartingObstaclesSolveEnormousOpeningDenialDiscussionGlobal WarmingHopefulAppropriateCategoriesBubblesRepresentationUnited States Of AmericaPresentationStarting PointOpening UpFactualUnreality
Author:Al Gore
Create image

“Even if we give first priority to the destruction of terrorist networks, and even if we succeed, there are still governments that could bring us great harm. And there is a clear case that one of these governments in particular represents a virulent threat in a class by itself: Iraq. As far as I am concerned, a final reckoning with that government should be on the table.”

IfsGivingShouldFirstsStillsGovernmentClassCasesClearParticularSucceedConcernedDestructionTablesThreatFinalsIraqHarmPrioritiesTerroristReckoning
Author:Al Gore
Create image