Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!
In plain words
From space he saw how beautiful Earth is, and asked people to look after it.
Where these words come from
- 55% sureLots of sources credit Yuri Gagarin with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- A handwritten, signed statement by Gagarin after his 1961 flight, but only published in the 1981 Soviet compilation Syny goluboi planety (he died 1968) — posthumous publication caps this at likely per the librarian rule, though the document itself is contemporaneous.
More on space
If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon.
Galileo GalileiNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao TzuClouds come floating into my life from other days no longer to shed rain or usher storm but to give colour to my sunset sky.
Rabindranath TagoreThe creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
Ralph Waldo EmersonAll art is but imitation of nature.
SenecaA violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature.Lao Tzu
Galileo GalileiNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.Lao TzuClouds come floating into my life from other days no longer to shed rain or usher storm but to give colour to my sunset sky.Rabindranath TagoreThe creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.Ralph Waldo EmersonAll art is but imitation of nature.SenecaA violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature.Lao TzuMore science
See allNothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Marie CurieOne never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.Marie CurieBe less curious about people and more curious about ideas.Marie CurieLook deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert EinsteinThe important thing is not to stop questioning.Albert EinsteinImagination is more important than knowledge.Albert Einstein
Marie CurieOne never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.Marie CurieBe less curious about people and more curious about ideas.Marie CurieLook deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.Albert EinsteinThe important thing is not to stop questioning.Albert EinsteinImagination is more important than knowledge.Albert Einstein