• Translation:Our house is burning and we look elsewhere. Nature mutilated, overexploited is not able to recover and we refuse to admit it. From North to South, it suffers from ill-development, and we are indifferent. Earth and humanity are in great peril and we are accountable." - Meaning and context.">
Statement at the earth summit in Johannesburg Elysee.fr dated sept 2nd 2002
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Notre maison brûle et nous regardons ailleurs. La nature, mutilée, surexploitée, ne parvient plus à se reconstituer et nous refusons de l'admettre. L'humanité souffre. Elle souffre de mal-développement, au nord comme au sud, et nous sommes indifférents. La terre et l'humanité sont en péril et nous en sommes tous responsables.
• Translation:Our house is burning and we look elsewhere. Nature mutilated, overexploited is not able to recover and we refuse to admit it. From North to South, it suffers from ill-development, and we are indifferent. Earth and humanity are in great peril and we are accountable.

— Jacques Chirac

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Notre maison brûle et nous regardons ailleurs. La nature, mutilée, surexploitée, ne parvient plus à se reconstituer et nous refusons de l'admettre. L'humanité souffre. Elle souffre de mal-développement, au nord comme au sud, et nous sommes indifférents. La terre et l'humanité sont en péril et nous en sommes tous responsables.
• Translation:Our house is burning and we look elsewhere. Nature mutilated, overexploited is not able to recover and we refuse to admit it. From North to South, it suffers from ill-development, and we are indifferent. Earth and humanity are in great peril and we are accountable." in the context of "Statement at the earth summit in Johannesburg Elysee.fr dated sept 2nd 2002" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Jacques Chirac" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jacques Chirac

About Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac (29 November 1932 – 26 September 2019) was a French politician who was President of France from 1995 to 2007. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.