Richard Lamm Quotes

Powerful Richard Lamm for Daily Growth

About Richard Lamm

Richard Lamm (July 19, 1935 - June 12, 2021) was an American politician, lawyer, and author, known for his influential role in Democratic politics and as a leading figure in environmental conservation. Born in Denver, Colorado, Lamm graduated from the University of Denver Law School and practiced law before entering politics. In 1975, Lamm was elected as the Governor of Colorado, serving until 1987. During his tenure, he implemented policies focused on education, healthcare, and environmental protection. He is perhaps best known for his role in advocating for the state's preservation and development of its natural resources, which culminated in the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park. Lamm's political career extended beyond Colorado, as he served as a delegate to the 1980 Democratic National Convention and was a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. Although unsuccessful, his platform emphasized environmental protection, healthcare reform, and economic equality. In addition to politics, Lamm authored several books, including "The No-Growth Society: The Ideal of Limits to Growth" (1974), in which he argued for sustainable development and restraint in population growth. His ideas on this subject gained international attention and influenced numerous environmental debates. Throughout his life, Lamm remained an active advocate for progressive causes, earning respect from both political allies and adversaries alike. Even after retiring from public office, he continued to write and speak out on issues such as healthcare reform, sustainable development, and social justice. Richard Lamm's legacy continues to inspire and inform discussions around environmental conservation, political leadership, and the future of society.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The time to save the planet was 20 years ago. The time to warn the public was 10 years ago. The time to act is now."

This quote underscores the urgency of environmental action, implying that we had a window of opportunity to prevent significant damage to our planet two decades ago, but failed to take action. Now, ten years have passed since the warning was issued, yet the call to act is still relevant as the consequences of inaction are becoming increasingly apparent. The message emphasizes that time is running out and immediate action is necessary to mitigate the negative effects on the environment.


"We have become a throwaway society. We throw away our resources, we throw away our money, and we throw away our future."

Richard Lamm's quote emphasizes the notion that modern society is wasteful and irresponsible, squandering its resources, wealth, and most importantly, the future for immediate gratification or convenience. This throwaway mentality can be observed in various aspects of life, such as excessive consumption, disposable culture, and disregard for long-term environmental impacts. The message encourages a more mindful and sustainable approach to resource management, acknowledging that our actions today shape the world we will live in tomorrow.


"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."

This quote by Richard Lamm emphasizes personal responsibility in addressing global environmental issues. It suggests that complacency, under the assumption that someone else (e.g., governments or corporations) will take necessary actions to protect our planet, can be detrimental. Instead, it encourages individual effort and action to ensure the preservation of our environment.


"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the pollution."

This quote by Richard Lamm encourages individuals to take an active role in positive change and problem-solving rather than contributing negatively or passively to a situation. It suggests that mere observation or complacency can be detrimental, and one should strive to contribute to solutions instead of adding to existing issues or problems. In essence, it calls for proactive participation towards bettering society and the world.


"We have to decide who we are going to be in this century: the people who destroyed the planet or the people who saved it."

This quote by Richard Lamm poses a profound choice for humanity in the 21st century. It highlights the urgent need to address global environmental challenges and choose to become stewards of our planet, ensuring its survival, rather than contributing to its destruction through harmful practices and lack of sustainable development. The decision we make will define us as a species and will have lasting implications for generations to come.


America does not need another political campaign based on denial and avoidance of some of our real problems. It needs a crusade to reform and renew our country, its institutions and political system.

- Richard Lamm

Denial, Needs, Based, Institutions

'Diversity' is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A 'diverse,' peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent.

- Richard Lamm

Other, Engaged, Mostly, Hating

Everything we do in public policy prevents us from doing something else. To govern is to choose.

- Richard Lamm

Doing, Govern, Public Policy

American public policy is run on a myth.

- Richard Lamm

Myth, Public, Public Policy

Why give chemotherapy or even antibiotics to people with end-stage Alzheimer's disease? Keep them pain free and clean, love them but don't automatically try to get the last technology-produced breath from them. Start a preschool program instead or do something about the atrocious state of obesity in our children.

- Richard Lamm

Love, Why, About, Automatically

Many seniors understand that Social Security is social insurance as opposed to a program where we put money aside for our own retirement. But most elderly individuals think they're getting their money back. So it isn't selfishness as much as a misunderstanding.

- Richard Lamm

Insurance, Elderly, Seniors, Social Security

We need to start training more primary health providers and fewer specialists. We will never be able to control health care costs unless we challenge the over-emphasis on medical research, specialists and technology and put more emphasis on delivering good, everyday basic medicine to those who now have none.

- Richard Lamm

Training, Medical, Fewer, Health Care Costs

We must recognize that all the civil rights laws in the world are not going to solve the problem of minority underachievement. Ultimately, blacks and Hispanics are going to have to see that their solution is largely in their own hands.

- Richard Lamm

Hands, Laws, Going, Hispanics

Aging bodies are fiscal black holes into which you can pour endless amounts of money.

- Richard Lamm

Black, Which, Bodies, Holes

Amnesty is a big billboard, a flashing billboard, to the rest of the world that we don't really mean our immigration law.

- Richard Lamm

Rest, Immigration, Big, Billboard

I believe a nation does not maximize its health care until it starts to ask the hard question: How can we prioritize our expenditures to buy the most health care for the most people? We should not apologize for rationing; we should promote it and advance it.

- Richard Lamm

Believe, Nation, Buy, Apologize

The bottom line is, until we're helping people to stop smoking, screening for breast cancer, giving Pap smears, giving prenatal care to pregnant women, we should not go into publicly paying for the artificial heart, which will benefit at great cost only a few people.

- Richard Lamm

Line, Helping, Screening, Helping People

It is my passionate belief that we can all have better health care through rationing.

- Richard Lamm

Passionate, Better, Through, Rationing

Our globe is under new dramatic environmental pressure: our globe is warming, our ice caps melting, our glaciers receding, our coral is dying, our soils are eroding, our water tables falling, our fisheries are being depleted, our remaining rainforests shrinking. Something is very, very wrong with our eco-system.

- Richard Lamm

Glaciers, Very, Depleted, Coral

We spend billions on marginal and often unnecessary procedures on people who are in the final dying process, yet we leave millions of Americans out of the health insurance system, and America's kids have the worst dental health in the developed world.

- Richard Lamm

Insurance, Out, Developed, Procedures

The environment issue is hydra-headed and complicated, but it is of immense importance that we understand how fast the world is changing.

- Richard Lamm

Environment, Fast, How, Immense

I had a group of Hispanic Americans come into my office in 1976 who worked in a Denver packing plant. They had just been fired by their employer who turned around and hired illegal aliens for a lot less money. That had a big impact on me.

- Richard Lamm

Big, Been, Turned, Hispanic

We can make the United States a 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity.

- Richard Lamm

United, United States, Hispanic

I think that retiring the baby boomers is going to be one of the great challenges in America, that you cannot make fiscal sense out of the future of our children without taking on entitlements.

- Richard Lamm

Think, I Think, Boomers, Entitlement

We have been maintaining a standard of living by putting things on the debt of the next generation.

- Richard Lamm

Generation, Next, Standard, Maintaining

I feel very strongly that the Democratic Party has, in the past, been the party of the future. I think when you look at Social Security and Medicare, when you look at the civil rights movement, the women's movement, I think the Democratic Party has always been in the forefront of change.

- Richard Lamm

Been, I Think, Very, Medicare

Medical need is an infinitely expandable concept. There is always one more marginal procedure that can be done. There is no end to the medical and surgical treatments that a technologically sophisticated and advanced society can give to aging bodies.

- Richard Lamm

Give, Always, Infinitely, Marginal

The very controversial National Identification Act of 1991, requiring all United States citizens to carry identification, has greatly enhanced the ability of law enforcement officers to identify criminals and terrorists.

- Richard Lamm

Law, United States, Very, Controversial

We've got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.

- Richard Lamm

Die, Other, Like, Everything Else

History shows, in my opinion, that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.

- Richard Lamm

Survive, Competing, Tension, Blessing

Roads are necessary, but the fact that we don't fully recognize that when you build a road you're doing more than building a road - you're building the future development of your city. And, that's what's never dawned on people. It still doesn't, in a way.

- Richard Lamm

Doing, Fact, Dawned, Fully

Employers love cheap labor, but a country should train its own people.

- Richard Lamm

Love, Country, Employers, Train

I suggest that those groups whose culture and values stress delayed gratification - education, hard work, success, and ambition - are those groups that succeed in America, regardless of discrimination.

- Richard Lamm

Work, Education, Stress, Gratification

It is clear that agriculture as we know it has experienced major changes within the life expectancy of most of us, and these changes have caused a major further deterioration of worldwide levels of nutrition.

- Richard Lamm

Clear, Within, Caused, Levels

I believe for some high-technology medicine, like transplants and kidney dialysis, age should be a consideration in the delivery of that technology. In a world of limited resources, we have a larger duty to a 10-year-old than to a 90-year-old.

- Richard Lamm

Some, Delivery, Larger, Consideration

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.