The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson.Friday, 29 November 2013
“You know why trees smell the way they do?” Murphy asked, looking up from her hammering. “Sap?” Logan guessed. “Chlorophyll?” Murphy shook her head. “Stars. Trees breathe in starlight year after year, and it goes deep into their bones. So when you cut a tree open, you smell a hundred years’ worth of light. Ancient starlight that took millions of years to reach earth. That’s why trees smell so beautiful and old.” ~ By Frances O’Roark Dowell in Where I’d like to be
Friday, 15 November 2013
“A garden should make you feel you've entered privileged space -- a place not just set apart but reverberant -- and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry.”
― Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
― Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education
“It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. 'I am watching you -- are you watching yourself in me?' Most travelers hurry too much...the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not to much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly -- but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling...you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still as a needle, you'll be there.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Spirit Of Place: Letters And Essays On Travel
― Lawrence Durrell, Spirit Of Place: Letters And Essays On Travel
Thomas Merton wrote, “there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage.
I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
Go up into the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn, and unlock-more than a maple- a universe. This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
Go up into the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn, and unlock-more than a maple- a universe. This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions; and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant - rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance - but it is also a color, a shape, a volume or an arabesque in itself.
“Sometimes, when one is moving silently through such an utterly desolate landscape, an overwhelming hallucination can make one feel that oneself, as an individual human being, is slowly being unraveled. The surrounding space is so vast that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a balanced grip on one's own being. The mind swells out to fill the entire landscape, becoming so diffuse in the process that one loses the ability to keep it fastened to the physical self. The sun would rise from the eastern horizon, and cut it's way across the empty sky, and sink below the western horizon. This was the only perceptible change in our surroundings. And in the movement of the sun, I felt something I hardly know how to name: some huge, cosmic love.
“Sometimes, when one is moving silently through such an utterly desolate landscape, an overwhelming hallucination can make one feel that oneself, as an individual human being, is slowly being unraveled. The surrounding space is so vast that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a balanced grip on one's own being. The mind swells out to fill the entire landscape, becoming so diffuse in the process that one loses the ability to keep it fastened to the physical self. The sun would rise from the eastern horizon, and cut it's way across the empty sky, and sink below the western horizon. This was the only perceptible change in our surroundings. And in the movement of the sun, I felt something I hardly know how to name: some huge, cosmic love.
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show.
I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape painting.
Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.
I don't divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one.
I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape painting.
Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.
I don't divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
“As our mother earth is a mere speck in the sunbeam in the illimitable universe, so man himself is but a tiny grain of protoplasm in the perishable framework of organic nature. [This] clearly indicates the true place of man in nature, but it dissipates the prevalent illusion of man's supreme importance and the arrogance with which he sets himself apart from the illimitable universe and exalts himself to the position of its most valuable element.”
Monday, 11 November 2013
“A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east.”
“We are nature. Our every tinkering is nature, our every biological striving. We are what we are, and the world is ours. We are its gods. Your only difficulty is your unwillingness to unleash your potential fully upon it.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
“A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.”
― Gaston Bachelard
― Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
“A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.”
― Gaston Bachelard
THE forest paths are muddy, after the rain;
The meadows are soaked through and through again.
The blackbirds in the yellow osiers sing,
The yellow osiers good for basketing.
I have been drinking at the rusty spout,
That glints with moss and spits the cold source out.
I would have loved you in this mossy place,
In days gone by, because of your sweet face.
But now I smile, as I my pipe begin,
The dreams I had were like magpies that spin.
I have reflected. And read novels, then
Verses from Paris, made by clever men.
Ah! they are far from sources in the rocks,
Where, among withered leaves, bathe brown woodcocks.
They should be here to see the huts I know,
Left ruined in the forest long ago.
And I would show them silver snipe, and thrushes,
Mild-mannered peasants, shining holly-bushes.
Then they would smoke their pipe, smile, and be glad,
And, if they suffer still, for men are sad,
They would be healed much when they heard the noise
Of pointed hawks that over farm-yards poise.
by francis james
In the lyric tide of April, in the month of daffodils,
In the gush of the gold of morning I came to the heart of the hills,--
Came by a virgin pathway that the vernal goddess trod
On her singing way from the southland over the sleeping sod.
And a chorus of choiring voices ever anigh me spake,
The tawny throat by the rillside, the red-breast out of the brake,
The pipers hid in the rushes, with their clear "Chee-weep! chee-weep!"
And the fleet wind-children chanting their runes of the upper deep.
A flush of rose and of amber, of sapphire and beryl shade,--
These were the woven glories that the waking morn displayed;
Beauty above and about me! Fluctuant? fading? nay!
Glowing, flowing, and growing in the rising flood of the day!
The soul within me was buoyant, and the spirit in me was one
With the throb of the great earth-passion, with the thrill of the vital sun.
I felt in my veins the pulsing, I knew in my thews the power
That stirred in the root of the grasses, that breathed through the lips of the flower.
If but for the span of a moment I swam in the aura of flame;
I caught the rapt secret of being clothed by the Ineffable Name.
And chastened with wonder and strengthened to meet life's beleaguering ills
I went, like a bondman unfettered, adown from the heart of the hills
by clinton scollard
In the gush of the gold of morning I came to the heart of the hills,--
Came by a virgin pathway that the vernal goddess trod
On her singing way from the southland over the sleeping sod.
And a chorus of choiring voices ever anigh me spake,
The tawny throat by the rillside, the red-breast out of the brake,
The pipers hid in the rushes, with their clear "Chee-weep! chee-weep!"
And the fleet wind-children chanting their runes of the upper deep.
A flush of rose and of amber, of sapphire and beryl shade,--
These were the woven glories that the waking morn displayed;
Beauty above and about me! Fluctuant? fading? nay!
Glowing, flowing, and growing in the rising flood of the day!
The soul within me was buoyant, and the spirit in me was one
With the throb of the great earth-passion, with the thrill of the vital sun.
I felt in my veins the pulsing, I knew in my thews the power
That stirred in the root of the grasses, that breathed through the lips of the flower.
If but for the span of a moment I swam in the aura of flame;
I caught the rapt secret of being clothed by the Ineffable Name.
And chastened with wonder and strengthened to meet life's beleaguering ills
I went, like a bondman unfettered, adown from the heart of the hills
by clinton scollard
1. Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
"[Abbey's] perception of the desert is determinedly frameless and
unconventional, as is his commentary on civilization. A work steadily gaining
status as a classic."
"[Abbey's] perception of the desert is determinedly frameless and
unconventional, as is his commentary on civilization. A work steadily gaining
status as a classic."
2. Walden; Or Life in the Woods, Henry David Thoreau
"A world-famous text on simple living as the means and the expression of
enlightenment, and one of the purest appreciations of place and the
natural that we have."
"A world-famous text on simple living as the means and the expression of
enlightenment, and one of the purest appreciations of place and the
natural that we have."
3. A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
"One of the modern classics, setting forth in elegantly economical prose the
author's own journey toward ecological understanding, the necessity of
wilderness to civilization, and (perhaps most revolutionary of his ideas) the
need for a 'land ethic.'"
"One of the modern classics, setting forth in elegantly economical prose the
author's own journey toward ecological understanding, the necessity of
wilderness to civilization, and (perhaps most revolutionary of his ideas) the
need for a 'land ethic.'"
4. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
"Observation of nature here opens up profound questions about life and
death, meaning, and identity. To the author, Tinker Creek in Virginia
represents the universe in all its spiritual complexity."
"Observation of nature here opens up profound questions about life and
death, meaning, and identity. To the author, Tinker Creek in Virginia
represents the universe in all its spiritual complexity."
5. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
"A major text that is still valuable, still urgent. Carson assembled the
evidence painstakingly, showing by careful reasoning and ecological insight
just what a chemicalized environment would mean. History and further
investigation have borne out her analysis."
"A major text that is still valuable, still urgent. Carson assembled the
evidence painstakingly, showing by careful reasoning and ecological insight
just what a chemicalized environment would mean. History and further
investigation have borne out her analysis."
6. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Terry Tempest Williams
"...as the Great Salt Lake rose to historically unprecedented levels,
drowning bird-productive lakeside marshes in salt water, the author's
mother sank toward death from cancer. Williams weaves these two
dimensions together masterfully and movingly."
"...as the Great Salt Lake rose to historically unprecedented levels,
drowning bird-productive lakeside marshes in salt water, the author's
mother sank toward death from cancer. Williams weaves these two
dimensions together masterfully and movingly."
7. New and Selected Poems, Mary Oliver
Winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Mary Oliver is
best known for her poetry that speaks eloquently and clearly about the
natural world.
Winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Mary Oliver is
best known for her poetry that speaks eloquently and clearly about the
natural world.
8. Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, Barry Lopez
"The author travels over great stretches of the Arctic, meditating upon the
great choice that is behind our eyes."
"The author travels over great stretches of the Arctic, meditating upon the
great choice that is behind our eyes."
9. The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Ehrlich
"An appreciation of the vastness and rigor of Wyoming's High Plains
country, and of the people whose lives have been shaped by its elemental
forces."
"An appreciation of the vastness and rigor of Wyoming's High Plains
country, and of the people whose lives have been shaped by its elemental
forces."
10. The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, Henry Beston
"A year on the Great Beach of Cape Cod: one of our literature's classic
evocations of just what a year might naturally mean."
"A year on the Great Beach of Cape Cod: one of our literature's classic
evocations of just what a year might naturally mean."
Saturday, 9 November 2013
As I walk across the earth,
thousands of things I get to see.
Birds fly high, soaring higher,
and on the flowers I hear the buzz of bees.
The sun at the dawn, rises within the hills.
Mountains covered with snow,
shining like the crown of silver.
And the waves touching the cliffs.
The waterfall flowing down
the green-blue mountains.
Rivers forming a dream delta
before entering the sea.
And while walking on the beach at night,
I feel the cool and sweet smelling breeze.
The slashing sound still feels like
the sound of love and peace.
The moon over the sea,
shining like a ball of gold.
And in every step my eyes hold wonder.
I bend on my knee
to thank the mother earth,
And is the truth.
it's a great pleasure for me,
to live in this wonderland.
thousands of things I get to see.
Birds fly high, soaring higher,
and on the flowers I hear the buzz of bees.
The sun at the dawn, rises within the hills.
Mountains covered with snow,
shining like the crown of silver.
And the waves touching the cliffs.
The waterfall flowing down
the green-blue mountains.
Rivers forming a dream delta
before entering the sea.
And while walking on the beach at night,
I feel the cool and sweet smelling breeze.
The slashing sound still feels like
the sound of love and peace.
The moon over the sea,
shining like a ball of gold.
And in every step my eyes hold wonder.
I bend on my knee
to thank the mother earth,
And is the truth.
it's a great pleasure for me,
to live in this wonderland.
Through the trees the sunlight filters,
Glinting off the snow, caressing the water,
While water falls noisily nearby.
The water twists around, winding,
The stream continues on an endless path,
While the rocks remain frozen, solid obstacles.
The light is fleeting, so catch it fast,
For it shimmers, waning,
And the whole forest shimmers too.
The snow clinging to the trees won't always be there,
And as the sunlight wavers,
Frost falls soundlessly to the ground.
Glinting off the snow, caressing the water,
While water falls noisily nearby.
The water twists around, winding,
The stream continues on an endless path,
While the rocks remain frozen, solid obstacles.
The light is fleeting, so catch it fast,
For it shimmers, waning,
And the whole forest shimmers too.
The snow clinging to the trees won't always be there,
And as the sunlight wavers,
Frost falls soundlessly to the ground.
The air is cool, the breeze is light.
The clouds in the sky are fluffy and white.
The flowers open to show their bright faces,
as the garden snail alongside paces.
The trees unfold their bright green leaves.
The spider a silken web she weaves.
The birds sing their notes high and clear.
Cheer up! Cheer up! Spring is here!
The clouds in the sky are fluffy and white.
The flowers open to show their bright faces,
as the garden snail alongside paces.
The trees unfold their bright green leaves.
The spider a silken web she weaves.
The birds sing their notes high and clear.
Cheer up! Cheer up! Spring is here!
Friday, 8 November 2013
Bible Verses about Nature...
Job 12:7-9 - But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:28-29 - See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
Genesis 9:12-13 - And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
Psalm 104:24 - O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom has thou made them all: the earth is full of your riches.
Isaiah 42:5 - Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Romans 1:20 - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Colossians 1:16,17 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Isaiah 45:18 - For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
Jeremiah 32:17 - Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
Jeremiah 51:16 - When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
Job 12:7-9 - But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:28-29 - See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
Genesis 9:12-13 - And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
Psalm 104:24 - O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom has thou made them all: the earth is full of your riches.
Isaiah 42:5 - Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Romans 1:20 - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Colossians 1:16,17 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Isaiah 45:18 - For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
Jeremiah 32:17 - Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
Jeremiah 51:16 - When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
nature
The British countryside is threatened by people and interests who really do not care for it - Simon Jenkins, Chair, National Trust (January 2013)
What we call 'economic growth' is in fact a growth in waste and a decline in the health of natural habitat - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
The first law of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts - Aldo Leopold
To care for the natural world is the most effective insurance policy we can have - Phil Harding (2011)
By failing to recognise the reality of our absolute reliance on ecosystem services, many do not realise that it is in our self-interest to preserve them - Executive Summary 'Valuing our life support systems', Natural Capital Initiative (2009)
Whatever we do to nature, we do to ourselves - Kurt Heidinger
We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments, that are responsible - Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011), environmental activist, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
To halt the decline of an ecosystem, it is necessary to think like an ecosystem - Douglas Wheeler
...we depend on the gifts of nature, but these gifts must be received with gratitude and not exploited or abused - Satish Kumar (ecological campaigner, writing in National Trust Magazine, Spring 2010)
...the future of mankind can be assured only if we rediscover ways in which to live as a part of nature, not apart from her - HRH The Prince of Wales addressing UN climate conference COP15, Copenhagen (December 2009)
We won't have a society if we destroy the environment - Margaret Mead
Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle - Pope John Paul II
Wildlife of the world is disappearing... simply because of a general and widespread ignorance and neglect - HRH Prince Philip
If it's unenvironmental it is uneconomical. That is the rule of nature - Mollie Beattie, Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service 1993-1996
Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites - William Ruckelshaus
Modern man talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find himself on the losing side - E F Schumacher
Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts - and paradoxically also facing calls for a return to so-called "old-fashioned," traditional banking - so Nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too. So, if we don't face up to this, then Nature, the biggest bank of all, could go bust - HRH The Prince of Wales, The Richard Dimbleby Lecture "Facing the Future" (8 July 2009)
I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defence of our resources is just as important as defence abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? - Robert Redford
The conservation of nature, the proper care for the human environment and a general concern for the long-term future of the whole of our planet are absolutely vital if future generations are to have a chance to enjoy their existence on this earth - HRH Prince Philip
At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity - Chico Mendes, Rubber tappers' leader
We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap - Kurt Vonnegut Jnr
...our culture's frenzied and mindless assault on the last shreds of nature may not be the wisest course... We're melting the ice caps, ripping up the rainforest, and vacuuming the oceans of everything that wriggles - George Meyer, writer for The Simpsons (BBC Green Room, 3 August 2006)
Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal - Edward Wilson
Forests precede civilizations, deserts follow - unattributable
As custodians of the planet it is our responsibility to deal with all species with kindness, love and compassion - Richard Gere
Civilization... wrecks the planet from seafloor to stratosphere - Richard Bach
We define our landscapes as much as they define us - unattributable
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect - Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Man is a complex being; he makes the deserts bloom and lakes die - Gil Stern
Activities that destroy ecosystems always destroy jobs - unattributable
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment - Ansel Adams, US photographer and environmentalist (1902 - 1984)
The preservation of biodiversity is not just a job for governments. International and non-governmental organisations, the private sector and each and every individual have a role to play in changing entrenched outlooks and ending destructive patterns of behaviour - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General on the 2003 International Day of Biological Diversity
Our environment is like a patchwork quilt. Each "patch" is dependent on those around it. If one part unravels, it affects the rest - Hemeon
Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative - H G Wells
If we could destroy custom at a blow and see the stars as a child sees them, we should need no other apocalypse - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Till now man has been up against nature, from now on he will be up against his own nature - Dennis Gabor
The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives - Indian proverb
We all live downstream - David Suzuki
Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find - Quoted in Time magazine
Modern technology owes ecology an apology - Alan M Eddison
The highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences - Frank Herbert
Once destroyed, nature's beauty cannot be repurchased at any price - Ansel Adams, US photographer and environmentalist (1902 - 1984)
The environment is not as 'cheap as chips', it's priceless and we all have a part to play in protecting it - David Dickinson (TV celebrity)
Only when the last tree is cut, only when the last river is polluted, only when the last fish is caught, will they realise that you can't eat money - Native American proverb
Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we - Michel de Montaigne
But while nature has considerable resilience, there is a limit to how far that resilience can be stretched. No one knows how close to the limit we are getting. The darker it gets, the faster we're driving - Douglas Adams (author)
Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially - E B White
The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value - Theodore Roosevelt (US President 1901-1909)
Organic agriculture is more about fairness and respect than it is about parts-per-billion of pesticide residues - Jim Hightower, organic campaigner (USA)
If we do not permit the Earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food either - Joseph Woodkrutch
In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught - Baba Dioum
To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase it's usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very properity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed - Theodore Roosevelt
If you mess with something long enough, it will break - Schmidt's Law
Beauty dies where litter lies - unattributable
And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess!" - Art Buchwald
When you defile the pleasant streams,
And the wild bird's abiding place,
You massacre a million dreams,
And cast your spittle in God's face
- John Drinkwater
Nature is what wins in the end - Abby Adams (1902-1984)
Miscellaneous
The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river - Ross Perot
Our relationship with Nature... best way of forging this relationship... be a pilgrim and not a tourist on Planet Earth - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
The surrounding environment is the best erudite master to teach us the fundamental laws of nature and the basics of living life - Anuj Somany
Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street - William Blake
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them - Mark Twain
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe - Carl Sagan
Don't count the seeds in an apple, count the apples in a seed! - Aine Belton
Your descendants shall gather your fruits - Virgil
I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God - Alan Hovhaness
Men argue; nature acts - Voltaire
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished - Lao Tzu
It seems to me that we all look at nature too much, and live with her too little - Oscar Wilde
Uniformity is not nature's way; diversity is nature's way - Vandana Shiva
Those who love and free nature are never alone - Rachel Carson
When you realise how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky - Buddha
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled - Richard Feynman
Anywhere is paradise; it's up to you - unattributable
What we call 'economic growth' is in fact a growth in waste and a decline in the health of natural habitat - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
The first law of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts - Aldo Leopold
To care for the natural world is the most effective insurance policy we can have - Phil Harding (2011)
By failing to recognise the reality of our absolute reliance on ecosystem services, many do not realise that it is in our self-interest to preserve them - Executive Summary 'Valuing our life support systems', Natural Capital Initiative (2009)
Whatever we do to nature, we do to ourselves - Kurt Heidinger
We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments, that are responsible - Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011), environmental activist, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
To halt the decline of an ecosystem, it is necessary to think like an ecosystem - Douglas Wheeler
...we depend on the gifts of nature, but these gifts must be received with gratitude and not exploited or abused - Satish Kumar (ecological campaigner, writing in National Trust Magazine, Spring 2010)
...the future of mankind can be assured only if we rediscover ways in which to live as a part of nature, not apart from her - HRH The Prince of Wales addressing UN climate conference COP15, Copenhagen (December 2009)
We won't have a society if we destroy the environment - Margaret Mead
Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle - Pope John Paul II
Wildlife of the world is disappearing... simply because of a general and widespread ignorance and neglect - HRH Prince Philip
If it's unenvironmental it is uneconomical. That is the rule of nature - Mollie Beattie, Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service 1993-1996
Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites - William Ruckelshaus
Modern man talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find himself on the losing side - E F Schumacher
Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts - and paradoxically also facing calls for a return to so-called "old-fashioned," traditional banking - so Nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too. So, if we don't face up to this, then Nature, the biggest bank of all, could go bust - HRH The Prince of Wales, The Richard Dimbleby Lecture "Facing the Future" (8 July 2009)
I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defence of our resources is just as important as defence abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? - Robert Redford
The conservation of nature, the proper care for the human environment and a general concern for the long-term future of the whole of our planet are absolutely vital if future generations are to have a chance to enjoy their existence on this earth - HRH Prince Philip
At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity - Chico Mendes, Rubber tappers' leader
We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap - Kurt Vonnegut Jnr
...our culture's frenzied and mindless assault on the last shreds of nature may not be the wisest course... We're melting the ice caps, ripping up the rainforest, and vacuuming the oceans of everything that wriggles - George Meyer, writer for The Simpsons (BBC Green Room, 3 August 2006)
Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal - Edward Wilson
Forests precede civilizations, deserts follow - unattributable
As custodians of the planet it is our responsibility to deal with all species with kindness, love and compassion - Richard Gere
Civilization... wrecks the planet from seafloor to stratosphere - Richard Bach
We define our landscapes as much as they define us - unattributable
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect - Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Man is a complex being; he makes the deserts bloom and lakes die - Gil Stern
Activities that destroy ecosystems always destroy jobs - unattributable
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment - Ansel Adams, US photographer and environmentalist (1902 - 1984)
The preservation of biodiversity is not just a job for governments. International and non-governmental organisations, the private sector and each and every individual have a role to play in changing entrenched outlooks and ending destructive patterns of behaviour - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General on the 2003 International Day of Biological Diversity
Our environment is like a patchwork quilt. Each "patch" is dependent on those around it. If one part unravels, it affects the rest - Hemeon
Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative - H G Wells
If we could destroy custom at a blow and see the stars as a child sees them, we should need no other apocalypse - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Till now man has been up against nature, from now on he will be up against his own nature - Dennis Gabor
The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives - Indian proverb
We all live downstream - David Suzuki
Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find - Quoted in Time magazine
Modern technology owes ecology an apology - Alan M Eddison
The highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences - Frank Herbert
Once destroyed, nature's beauty cannot be repurchased at any price - Ansel Adams, US photographer and environmentalist (1902 - 1984)
The environment is not as 'cheap as chips', it's priceless and we all have a part to play in protecting it - David Dickinson (TV celebrity)
Only when the last tree is cut, only when the last river is polluted, only when the last fish is caught, will they realise that you can't eat money - Native American proverb
Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we - Michel de Montaigne
But while nature has considerable resilience, there is a limit to how far that resilience can be stretched. No one knows how close to the limit we are getting. The darker it gets, the faster we're driving - Douglas Adams (author)
Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially - E B White
The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value - Theodore Roosevelt (US President 1901-1909)
Organic agriculture is more about fairness and respect than it is about parts-per-billion of pesticide residues - Jim Hightower, organic campaigner (USA)
If we do not permit the Earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food either - Joseph Woodkrutch
In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught - Baba Dioum
To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase it's usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very properity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed - Theodore Roosevelt
If you mess with something long enough, it will break - Schmidt's Law
Beauty dies where litter lies - unattributable
And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess!" - Art Buchwald
When you defile the pleasant streams,
And the wild bird's abiding place,
You massacre a million dreams,
And cast your spittle in God's face
- John Drinkwater
Nature is what wins in the end - Abby Adams (1902-1984)
Miscellaneous
The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river - Ross Perot
Our relationship with Nature... best way of forging this relationship... be a pilgrim and not a tourist on Planet Earth - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
The surrounding environment is the best erudite master to teach us the fundamental laws of nature and the basics of living life - Anuj Somany
Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street - William Blake
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them - Mark Twain
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe - Carl Sagan
Don't count the seeds in an apple, count the apples in a seed! - Aine Belton
Your descendants shall gather your fruits - Virgil
I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God - Alan Hovhaness
Men argue; nature acts - Voltaire
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished - Lao Tzu
It seems to me that we all look at nature too much, and live with her too little - Oscar Wilde
Uniformity is not nature's way; diversity is nature's way - Vandana Shiva
Those who love and free nature are never alone - Rachel Carson
When you realise how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky - Buddha
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled - Richard Feynman
Anywhere is paradise; it's up to you - unattributable
Nature: a place where birds fly around uncooked - Oscar Wilde
There is however, a true music of nature; the song of the birds, the whisper of leaves, the ripple of waters upon a sandy shore, the wail of wind or sea - Lubbock
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song - Lou Holz
Everybody loves birdsong. It's a human need... the sound of birds gives a deep, if sometimes almost unnoticed, pleasure - Simon Barnes, Wild Notebook, The Times (31.12.2011)
Acquiring the trick of listening to birds will teach you how better to enjoy life and how better to endure it - Simon Barnes, Wild Notebook, The Times (31.12.2011)
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
The Earth laughs in flowers - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower - Albert Camus
If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment - O'Keefe
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change - Buddha
Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul - Prophet Muhammad
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers - Claude Monet
There are always flowers for those who want to see them - Henri Matisse
Take the time to smell a rose - unattributable
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul - Luther Burbank
Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won't come true - Ray Evans
The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
If you are thinking one year ahead, sow seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people - Chinese proverb
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything - William Shakespeare
A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine - Anne Bronte
Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade - Arabian proverb
The tree bestows its shade on all, even the woodcutter - Indian proverb
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars - Walt Whitman
The Amazon is a canary in a coal mine for the Earth - Dan Nepstadt, Ecologist (October 2005)
Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point - Abigail Adams (1744-1818) 2nd First Lady of the USA
We celebrate the cherry tree not for its efficiency but for its effectiveness - and for its beauty. Its materials are in constant flow, and all those thousands of useless cherry blossoms look gorgeous. Then they fall to the ground and become soil again, so there's no problem - William McDonough, architect
No man manages his affairs as well as a tree does - George Bernard Shaw
I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree - (Alfred) Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn - John Muir
I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself what a wonderful world - What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong (1901-1970)
Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man - Orison Swett Marten
We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea - Paul Tillich
How oft a summer shower has started me; to seek the shelter of a hollow tree - "The Hollow Tree" by John Clare
To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug - Helen Keller
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free - Charles Dickens
Animals are such agreeable friends; they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms - George Eliot
I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o'er vales and hills. When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodil; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
The tree bestows its shade on all, even the woodcutter - Indian proverb
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars - Walt Whitman
The Amazon is a canary in a coal mine for the Earth - Dan Nepstadt, Ecologist (October 2005)
Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point - Abigail Adams (1744-1818) 2nd First Lady of the USA
We celebrate the cherry tree not for its efficiency but for its effectiveness - and for its beauty. Its materials are in constant flow, and all those thousands of useless cherry blossoms look gorgeous. Then they fall to the ground and become soil again, so there's no problem - William McDonough, architect
No man manages his affairs as well as a tree does - George Bernard Shaw
I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree - (Alfred) Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn - John Muir
I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue and clouds of white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself what a wonderful world - What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong (1901-1970)
Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man - Orison Swett Marten
We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea - Paul Tillich
How oft a summer shower has started me; to seek the shelter of a hollow tree - "The Hollow Tree" by John Clare
To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug - Helen Keller
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free - Charles Dickens
Animals are such agreeable friends; they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms - George Eliot
I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o'er vales and hills. When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodil; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now - Dambisa Moyo, Zambian economist
Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking - Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011), environmental activist, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
He that plants trees loves others besides himself - English proverb
Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees - John Willard Marriott
The world's forests are a shared stolen treasure that we must put back for our children's future - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We can only truly be civilised people when we have regular and meaningful contact with the wild world - Simon Barnes, Wild Notebook, The Times (31.12.2011)
As each tree falls so does the earth's ability to heal itself and to adapt to the effects of our changing climate - Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs addressing Copenhagen COP15 UN conference (13 December 2009)
The best friend of earth and of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth - Frank Lloyd Wright
Trees are your best antiques - Alexander Smith
Trees give peace to the souls of men - Nora Waln (1895-1964)
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful - Alice Walker
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence - Hal Borland
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver - Martin Luther, reformer and teacher (1483 - 1546)
Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking - Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011), environmental activist, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
He that plants trees loves others besides himself - English proverb
Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees - John Willard Marriott
The world's forests are a shared stolen treasure that we must put back for our children's future - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We can only truly be civilised people when we have regular and meaningful contact with the wild world - Simon Barnes, Wild Notebook, The Times (31.12.2011)
As each tree falls so does the earth's ability to heal itself and to adapt to the effects of our changing climate - Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs addressing Copenhagen COP15 UN conference (13 December 2009)
The best friend of earth and of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth - Frank Lloyd Wright
Trees are your best antiques - Alexander Smith
Trees give peace to the souls of men - Nora Waln (1895-1964)
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful - Alice Walker
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence - Hal Borland
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver - Martin Luther, reformer and teacher (1483 - 1546)
Nature always tends to act in the simplest way - Bernoulli
Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am two with nature - Woody Allen
The value of nature: On many levels, physical, mental and spiritual, our life is dependent on the natural environment. That is to say, our existence and well-being require the maintenance of that which has its being irrespective of ourselves and our efforts - Keith Innes
In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences - R Ingersoll
If we care about the countyside we must eat the view. Most wonderful landscapes are the product of many years of farming. By buying the products of that farming we can all do our part to sustain our beautiful scenery - Richard Wakeford, Chief Executive, Countryside Agency (2002)
People everywhere depend upon biodiversity for their livelihoods, their quality of life, and to provide basic ecological services on which all life depends - The Business and Biodiversity Resource Centre (www.businessandbiodiversity.org)
The spirit of a country, if it is to be true to itself, needs continually to draw great breaths of inspiration from the simple realities of the country; from the smell of its soil, the pattern of its fields, the beauty of its scenery and from the men and women who dwell and toil in the rural areas - Sir George Stapledon in 'Make Fruitful the Land'
A fertile living soil means healthy crops, animals and human beings - unattributable
Man's heart away from nature becomes hard - Standing Bear
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature - Anne Frank
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair - Kahlil Gibran
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather - John Ruskin
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night - Steve Martin
Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while - Kin Hubbard
If people sat outside at night and looked at the stars each night I bet they would live a lot differently - Bill Watterson, cartoonist
Every child is born a naturalist. His eyes are, by nature, open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers, and the mystery of life - R Search
Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am two with nature - Woody Allen
The value of nature: On many levels, physical, mental and spiritual, our life is dependent on the natural environment. That is to say, our existence and well-being require the maintenance of that which has its being irrespective of ourselves and our efforts - Keith Innes
In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences - R Ingersoll
If we care about the countyside we must eat the view. Most wonderful landscapes are the product of many years of farming. By buying the products of that farming we can all do our part to sustain our beautiful scenery - Richard Wakeford, Chief Executive, Countryside Agency (2002)
People everywhere depend upon biodiversity for their livelihoods, their quality of life, and to provide basic ecological services on which all life depends - The Business and Biodiversity Resource Centre (www.businessandbiodiversity.org)
The spirit of a country, if it is to be true to itself, needs continually to draw great breaths of inspiration from the simple realities of the country; from the smell of its soil, the pattern of its fields, the beauty of its scenery and from the men and women who dwell and toil in the rural areas - Sir George Stapledon in 'Make Fruitful the Land'
A fertile living soil means healthy crops, animals and human beings - unattributable
Man's heart away from nature becomes hard - Standing Bear
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature - Anne Frank
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair - Kahlil Gibran
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather - John Ruskin
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night - Steve Martin
Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while - Kin Hubbard
If people sat outside at night and looked at the stars each night I bet they would live a lot differently - Bill Watterson, cartoonist
Every child is born a naturalist. His eyes are, by nature, open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers, and the mystery of life - R Search
The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man - unattributable
Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift - Albert Einstein
This curious world which we inhabit is more wonderful than it is convenient, more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
If we once, and for so long, lived in balance with nature and each other, we should be able to do so again - John Zerzan
The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
If you are missing out on the natural joy and wisdom of life, it is because you have been taught to ignore it....Reconnecting with nature consists of bringing into your consciousness a sensory way of thinking and relating with which you are born - Michael J. Cohen
Nature never says one thing and wisdom another - Decimus Junius Juvenalis
In the United Kingdom no one lives more than 75 miles from the sea. For us, as an island nation, the sea has an all-embracing presence. Spiritually and physically we are intimately connected with our shores. The sea has immense power, which we ignore at our peril - National Trust 'Shifting Shores - Living with a changing coastline' (2005)
There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore;
There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but nature more - George Gordon Byron, 1788-1824
April hath put a spirit of youth in everything - William Shakespeare
The earth has music for those who listen - William Shakespeare
Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
The poetry of the earth is never dead - John Keats
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order - John Burroughs
When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves - David Orr
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world - John Muir
The beauty of mother nature is her ability to make complex things appear simple - Loius E Samuels, M.D.
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts - Rachel Carson
Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift - Albert Einstein
This curious world which we inhabit is more wonderful than it is convenient, more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
If we once, and for so long, lived in balance with nature and each other, we should be able to do so again - John Zerzan
The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
If you are missing out on the natural joy and wisdom of life, it is because you have been taught to ignore it....Reconnecting with nature consists of bringing into your consciousness a sensory way of thinking and relating with which you are born - Michael J. Cohen
Nature never says one thing and wisdom another - Decimus Junius Juvenalis
In the United Kingdom no one lives more than 75 miles from the sea. For us, as an island nation, the sea has an all-embracing presence. Spiritually and physically we are intimately connected with our shores. The sea has immense power, which we ignore at our peril - National Trust 'Shifting Shores - Living with a changing coastline' (2005)
There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore;
There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but nature more - George Gordon Byron, 1788-1824
April hath put a spirit of youth in everything - William Shakespeare
The earth has music for those who listen - William Shakespeare
Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
The poetry of the earth is never dead - John Keats
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order - John Burroughs
When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves - David Orr
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world - John Muir
The beauty of mother nature is her ability to make complex things appear simple - Loius E Samuels, M.D.
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts - Rachel Carson
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it - Confucius
Sounds of the wind or sounds of the sea, make me happy just to be - June Polis
In every walk with nature, you receive far more than you seek - unattributable
The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth - Thich Nhat Hanh
We must put a proper value on the natural world: it would be odd to cherish a Constable but not the landscape he depicted - 'This Common Inheritance' Britain's (first) Environmental Strategy (1990)
There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast - Paul Scott Mowrer
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you - Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's party!" - Robin Williams (American actor and comedian)
Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day - W Earl Hall
Love comforteth like sunshine after rain - William Shakespeare
Sounds of the wind or sounds of the sea, make me happy just to be - June Polis
In every walk with nature, you receive far more than you seek - unattributable
The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in air, but simply walking on this earth - Thich Nhat Hanh
We must put a proper value on the natural world: it would be odd to cherish a Constable but not the landscape he depicted - 'This Common Inheritance' Britain's (first) Environmental Strategy (1990)
There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast - Paul Scott Mowrer
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you - Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's party!" - Robin Williams (American actor and comedian)
Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day - W Earl Hall
Love comforteth like sunshine after rain - William Shakespeare
After a visit to the beach, it's hard to believe that we live in a material world - Pam Shaw
One can never study nature too much and too hard - Vincent van Gogh
Study nature not books - Jean Louis Agassiz
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures - Vincent van Gogh
Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more - Vincent van Gogh
Land really is the best art - Andy Warhol
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art - Louisa May Alcott
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature - August Rodin
Nature is the art of God - Dante Alighieri
The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration - Claude Monet
Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art - Cicero
For art may err, but nature cannot miss - John Dryden
Art is a harmony parallel with nature - Paul Cézanne
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them - John Ruskin (1819-1900)
One can never study nature too much and too hard - Vincent van Gogh
Study nature not books - Jean Louis Agassiz
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures - Vincent van Gogh
Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more - Vincent van Gogh
Land really is the best art - Andy Warhol
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art - Louisa May Alcott
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature - August Rodin
Nature is the art of God - Dante Alighieri
The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration - Claude Monet
Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art - Cicero
For art may err, but nature cannot miss - John Dryden
Art is a harmony parallel with nature - Paul Cézanne
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them - John Ruskin (1819-1900)
From dawn to dusk, winter to spring, summer & autumn; the contrasts of nature refresh the mind & renew our sense of balance - Phil Harding (2011)
No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face - John Donne
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolour, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic - Stanley Horowitz
Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end - Remy de Gourmont
Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons - Jim Bishop
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits - Samuel Butler
In autumn, don't go to jewellers to see gold; go to the parks! - Mehmet Murat ildan
Winter is dead; spring is crazy; summer is cheerful and autumn is wise! - Mehmet Murat ildan
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? - John Steinbeck, American writer (1902 - 1968)
Summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language - Henry James, American author (1843 - 1916)
One must maintain a little bittle of summer, even in the middle of winter - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature's finest balm - Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980)
On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it - Jules Renard
No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face - John Donne
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolour, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic - Stanley Horowitz
Autumn is as joyful and sweet as an untimely end - Remy de Gourmont
Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons - Jim Bishop
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits - Samuel Butler
In autumn, don't go to jewellers to see gold; go to the parks! - Mehmet Murat ildan
Winter is dead; spring is crazy; summer is cheerful and autumn is wise! - Mehmet Murat ildan
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? - John Steinbeck, American writer (1902 - 1968)
Summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language - Henry James, American author (1843 - 1916)
One must maintain a little bittle of summer, even in the middle of winter - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature's finest balm - Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980)
On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it - Jules Renard
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way - Aristotle
Nature did all things well - Michelangelo
The law of nature is the strictest expression of necessity - Molescholte
Being inexhaustible, life and nature are a constant stimulus for a creative mind - Hans Hofmann
Nothing is rich but the inexhaustible wealth of nature. She shows us only surfaces, but she is a million fathoms deep - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Lose yourself in nature and find peace - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Nature is the most thrifty thing in the world; she never wastes anything, she undergoes change, but there's no annihilation, the essence remains - matter is eternal - Horace Binney
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed - Francis Bacon (16th Century philospher)
Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own - Charles Dickens
A thing of beauty is a joy forever - John Keats
An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment - David Attenborough
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living - David Attenborough
There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story - Linda Hogan
Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it - Charles A Lindbergh
The laws of nature are... thoughts of God - Heinrich Zschokke (1771-1848)
The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask - Nancy Newhall
Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion - Lorraine Anderson
Nature is just enough; but men and women must comprehend and accept her suggestions - Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825 - 1921)
Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral - John Burroughs
Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd - Baruch Spinoza
Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not reach it - Curtius-Rufus (100 AD)
Nature does not compromise; a pelican is not a compromise between a crow and otter, it is just a pelican. Nature makes no compromises; any inefficient products are recalled to the manufacturer! - Amory Lovins
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better - Albert Einstein
If you live according to nature, you never will be poor; if according to the world's caprice, you will never be rich - Publilius Syrus (42 BC)
Nature uses as little as possible of anything - Johannes Kepler
Nature does nothing uselessly - Aristotle
It turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life - Richard Feynman (1918-1988)
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living - David Attenborough
There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story - Linda Hogan
Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values... God made life simple. It is man who complicates it - Charles A Lindbergh
The laws of nature are... thoughts of God - Heinrich Zschokke (1771-1848)
The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask - Nancy Newhall
Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion - Lorraine Anderson
Nature is just enough; but men and women must comprehend and accept her suggestions - Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825 - 1921)
Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral - John Burroughs
Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd - Baruch Spinoza
Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue can not reach it - Curtius-Rufus (100 AD)
Nature does not compromise; a pelican is not a compromise between a crow and otter, it is just a pelican. Nature makes no compromises; any inefficient products are recalled to the manufacturer! - Amory Lovins
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better - Albert Einstein
If you live according to nature, you never will be poor; if according to the world's caprice, you will never be rich - Publilius Syrus (42 BC)
Nature uses as little as possible of anything - Johannes Kepler
Nature does nothing uselessly - Aristotle
It turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life - Richard Feynman (1918-1988)
From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.
From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man
- from the lyrics for 'From A Distance' (Bette Midler)
The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul - Wyland, marine life artist
Water is the driving force of all nature - Leonardo da Vinci
Clean water is an investment in the future of our country - Bob Shuster, US Congressman
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry - Thomas Fuller
We know that when we protect our oceans we're protecting our future - Bill Clinton
There's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away - Sarah Kay
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace - Kate Chopin
The ocean is a mighty harmonist - William Wordsworth
Our health relies entirely on the vitality of our fellow species on Earth - Harrison Ford
A healthy natural environment allows each new generation including ours to prosper - unattributable
All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child - Marie Curie, twice Nobel Prize winning scientist (1867-1934)
You are always rich when you can see and feel the beauty of this world - Aine Belton
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.
From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man
- from the lyrics for 'From A Distance' (Bette Midler)
The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul - Wyland, marine life artist
Water is the driving force of all nature - Leonardo da Vinci
Clean water is an investment in the future of our country - Bob Shuster, US Congressman
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry - Thomas Fuller
We know that when we protect our oceans we're protecting our future - Bill Clinton
There's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away - Sarah Kay
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace - Kate Chopin
The ocean is a mighty harmonist - William Wordsworth
Our health relies entirely on the vitality of our fellow species on Earth - Harrison Ford
A healthy natural environment allows each new generation including ours to prosper - unattributable
All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child - Marie Curie, twice Nobel Prize winning scientist (1867-1934)
You are always rich when you can see and feel the beauty of this world - Aine Belton
Earth: You need it more than it needs you - Earth day (22 April) message from Climate Action (2013)
Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises - Pedro Calderon de la Barca
The natural environment is the great outpatient department where we can go for healing - William Bird, GP, Berkshire West Primary Care Trust (quoted in Sustainable Development Commission 'Healthy Futures' publication, March 2007)
What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for beauty, and never see the dawn! - Logan Pearsall Smith
Nature's rhythms are a constant source of inspiration - unattributable
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul - John Muir
I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me - William Hazlitt
Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries - Jimmy Carter
A lot of work and money has been spent on astronomy and yet we have not found life. So we are rare, and rare things tend to be fragile and you have to be careful about them - Rt Hon John Gummer MP (writing in Water, Energy & Environment magazine, June 2007)
We all tend to feel better in the natural environment - so why are we working so hard to destroy it? - Dr Michael Dixon, Chairman, NHS Alliance (quoted in Sustainable Development Commission 'Healthy Futures' publication, March 2007)
It is the marriage of the soul with nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
By starting from the ground and tapping into the absolute, uncheatable truth of nature we can make ourselves better - Monty Don, TV gardener (profiled in The Sunday Times, 29.10.2006)
Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises - Pedro Calderon de la Barca
The natural environment is the great outpatient department where we can go for healing - William Bird, GP, Berkshire West Primary Care Trust (quoted in Sustainable Development Commission 'Healthy Futures' publication, March 2007)
What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for beauty, and never see the dawn! - Logan Pearsall Smith
Nature's rhythms are a constant source of inspiration - unattributable
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul - John Muir
I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me - William Hazlitt
Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries - Jimmy Carter
A lot of work and money has been spent on astronomy and yet we have not found life. So we are rare, and rare things tend to be fragile and you have to be careful about them - Rt Hon John Gummer MP (writing in Water, Energy & Environment magazine, June 2007)
We all tend to feel better in the natural environment - so why are we working so hard to destroy it? - Dr Michael Dixon, Chairman, NHS Alliance (quoted in Sustainable Development Commission 'Healthy Futures' publication, March 2007)
It is the marriage of the soul with nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
By starting from the ground and tapping into the absolute, uncheatable truth of nature we can make ourselves better - Monty Don, TV gardener (profiled in The Sunday Times, 29.10.2006)
Nature can do more than physicians - Oliver Cromwell
Everyone stands to benefit if the oceans are better protected, better managed and better understood for the important ecosystem services they provide - Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development (June 2012)
To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together - Barry Lopez, author
Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower - Hans Christian Anderson
In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia - Charles Lindbergh
In wilderness is the preservation of the world - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake - Wallace Stevens
A walk amongst nature, whether by the sea, river, hill, valley, meadow or wood, works wonders for the human spirit - unattributable
The mountains are calling and I must go - John Muir
How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! - John Muir
Everyone stands to benefit if the oceans are better protected, better managed and better understood for the important ecosystem services they provide - Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development (June 2012)
To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together - Barry Lopez, author
Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower - Hans Christian Anderson
In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia - Charles Lindbergh
In wilderness is the preservation of the world - Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake - Wallace Stevens
A walk amongst nature, whether by the sea, river, hill, valley, meadow or wood, works wonders for the human spirit - unattributable
The mountains are calling and I must go - John Muir
How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! - John Muir
A living countryside is not a luxury but a necessity for the human population; if you let conservation go hang until your pockets are jingling there will be a lot less to conserve - Simon Barnes, columnist, The Times (27.4.2013)
The truly healthy environment is not merely safe but stimulating - William H Stewart
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man - Albert Einstein
We have lost sight of the dependence we have on nature in economics - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
Nature is our biggest ally in poverty reduction and achieving human welfare - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
Economy without ecology means managing the human nature relationship without knowing the delicate balance between humankind and the natural world - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
Without the land, the rivers, the oceans, the forests, the sunshine, the minerals and thousands of natural resources we would have no economy whatsoever - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
Nature is not a drag on growth. Its protection is an unavoidable prerequisite for sustaining economic development - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
An agricultural landscape produces food but it also provides water, requires biodiversity to underpin soil function, pollination and other useful services, and also has value to society in terms of aesthetics and recreation - Tim Benton, UK Global Food Security programme (2012)
Rather than think about fields producing food, and the rest of the land producing everything else, we need to think about managing integrated, multifunctional, landscapes - Tim Benton, UK Global Food Security programme (2012)
From Indian vultures to Chinese bees, Nature provides the 'natural services' that keep the economy going - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser, 'What has nature ever done for us?' (2013)
From the recycling miracles in the soil; an army of predators ridding us of unwanted pests; an abundance of life creating a genetic codebook that underpins our food, pharmaceutical industries and much more, it has been estimated that these and other services are each year worth about double global GDP - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser, 'What has nature ever done for us?' (2013)
Let the clean air blow the cobwebs from your body. Air is medicine - Lillian Russell (1862-1922)
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth - Rachel Carson, Our Ever-Changing Shore
The truly healthy environment is not merely safe but stimulating - William H Stewart
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man - Albert Einstein
We have lost sight of the dependence we have on nature in economics - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
Nature is our biggest ally in poverty reduction and achieving human welfare - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
Economy without ecology means managing the human nature relationship without knowing the delicate balance between humankind and the natural world - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
Without the land, the rivers, the oceans, the forests, the sunshine, the minerals and thousands of natural resources we would have no economy whatsoever - Satish Kumar, ecological campaigner (2008)
Nature is not a drag on growth. Its protection is an unavoidable prerequisite for sustaining economic development - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser (2013)
An agricultural landscape produces food but it also provides water, requires biodiversity to underpin soil function, pollination and other useful services, and also has value to society in terms of aesthetics and recreation - Tim Benton, UK Global Food Security programme (2012)
Rather than think about fields producing food, and the rest of the land producing everything else, we need to think about managing integrated, multifunctional, landscapes - Tim Benton, UK Global Food Security programme (2012)
From Indian vultures to Chinese bees, Nature provides the 'natural services' that keep the economy going - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser, 'What has nature ever done for us?' (2013)
From the recycling miracles in the soil; an army of predators ridding us of unwanted pests; an abundance of life creating a genetic codebook that underpins our food, pharmaceutical industries and much more, it has been estimated that these and other services are each year worth about double global GDP - Tony Juniper, sustainability and environment adviser, 'What has nature ever done for us?' (2013)
Let the clean air blow the cobwebs from your body. Air is medicine - Lillian Russell (1862-1922)
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth - Rachel Carson, Our Ever-Changing Shore
The domination of nature leads to the domination of human nature.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - Beyond The Wall: Essays from the Outside, 1971
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - Beyond The Wall: Essays from the Outside, 1971
There are no vacant lots in nature.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)- Desert Solitude, "The First Morning," p.6, Ballantine Books, NY, NY, 1968
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)- Desert Solitude, "The First Morning," p.6, Ballantine Books, NY, NY, 1968
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - The Journey Home (1991) The Rape of the West p. 183
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - The Journey Home (1991) The Rape of the West p. 183
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)- Down the River, 148
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)- Down the River, 148
Nature is indifferent to our love, but never unfaithful.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Notes from a Secret Journal, 1986, Ch,9 p86
Edward Abbey (1927-1989) - A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Notes from a Secret Journal, 1986, Ch,9 p86
Nature neither gives nor expects mercy.
Diane Ackerman (1948 -) - The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales, Random House, NY,NY, 1991, 239-240.
Diane Ackerman (1948 -) - The Moon by Whale Light: And Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales, Random House, NY,NY, 1991, 239-240.
Nature is what wins in the end.
Abby Adams (1902-1984) - The Gardener's Gripe Book, p. 10.
Abby Adams (1902-1984) - The Gardener's Gripe Book, p. 10.
No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied — it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.Ansel Adams (1902-1984) - Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.
The only things in my life that compatibly exist with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) - Ansel Adams: An Autobiography
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) - Ansel Adams: An Autobiography
Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.
Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) - The Education of Henry B. Adams, p. 1132, The Library of America (1983)
Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) - The Education of Henry B. Adams, p. 1132, The Library of America (1983)
If there's a power above us,
(And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) - Cato, Act V, Scene I, J Dicks, London, 1883
(And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) - Cato, Act V, Scene I, J Dicks, London, 1883
Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) - The Spectator, Vol I, 1826, No 162, p. 255
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) - The Spectator, Vol I, 1826, No 162, p. 255
As long as men inquire, they will find opportunities to know more upon these topics than those who have gone before them, so inexhaustibly rich is nature in the innermost diversity of her treasures of beauty, order and intelligence.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - The Spectator, Vol VII, No. 477, September 6, 1712, pp 19-20.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - The Spectator, Vol VII, No. 477, September 6, 1712, pp 19-20.
The eye of the trilobite tells us that the sun shone on the old beach where he lived; for there is nothing in nature without a purpose, and when so complicated an organ was made to receive the light, there must have been light to enter it.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - Geological Sketches, ch. 2, 1866
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - Geological Sketches, ch. 2, 1866
Lay aside all conceit. Learn to read the book of nature for yourself. Those who have succeeded best have followed for years some slim thread which has once in a while broadended out and disclosed some treasure worth a life-long search.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - Popular Science Monthly, Quoted by David Stair Jordan, Vol 40, 1891
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) - Popular Science Monthly, Quoted by David Stair Jordan, Vol 40, 1891
Nature is the armory of genius. Cities serve it poorly, books and colleges at second hand; the eye craves the spectacle of the horizon; of mountain, ocean, river and plain, the clouds and stars; actual contact with the elements, sympathy with the seasons as they rise and roll.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) - The Journals of Bronson Alcott, January, p. 187, Little Brown & Co., Boston MA, 1938.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) - The Journals of Bronson Alcott, January, p. 187, Little Brown & Co., Boston MA, 1938.
Nature is thought immersed in matter. . .
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) - "Pantheon," The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol II, No 1, 1868 (p. 47)
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) - "Pantheon," The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol II, No 1, 1868 (p. 47)
Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - A Long Fatal Love Chase, 1866, Dell Publishing reprint, 1995, p 11.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - A Long Fatal Love Chase, 1866, Dell Publishing reprint, 1995, p 11.
Nature hath nothing made so base, but can read some instruction to the wisest man.
Aleyn -Quoted in: A dictionary of thoughts: being a cyclopedia of laconic quotations from the best authors of the world, both ancient and modern, edited by Tryon Edwards, 1908.
Aleyn -Quoted in: A dictionary of thoughts: being a cyclopedia of laconic quotations from the best authors of the world, both ancient and modern, edited by Tryon Edwards, 1908.
Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.
Henri Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) -The Private Journal of Henri Frédéric Amiel, Tr. H. Ward, October 31, 1852,
Henri Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) -The Private Journal of Henri Frédéric Amiel, Tr. H. Ward, October 31, 1852,
Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.
Lorraine Anderson (1952 - ) - Quoted in The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, Gail McMeekin, Conari Press, 2000, p27.
Lorraine Anderson (1952 - ) - Quoted in The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, Gail McMeekin, Conari Press, 2000, p27.
Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway.
Maya Angelou (1928 - ) - Conversations with Maya Angelou, Ed. J. Elliot, University Press of Mississippi, (1989)
Maya Angelou (1928 - ) - Conversations with Maya Angelou, Ed. J. Elliot, University Press of Mississippi, (1989)
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Parts of Animals I.645a16
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Parts of Animals I.645a16
Nature makes nothing incomplete, and nothing in vain.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Politics I. 1256 b
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Politics I. 1256 b
But Nature flies from the infinite, for the infinite is unending or imperfect, and Nature ever seeks an end.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Generation of Animals I.715b15
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Generation of Animals I.715b15
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is Nature's way.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Nicomanachean Ethics, 1099B, 23
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - Nicomanachean Ethics, 1099B, 23
There is more both of beauty and of raison d'etre in the works of nature- than in those of art.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - De Partibus Animalium, I., 1, 5.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) - De Partibus Animalium, I., 1, 5.
Those whose days are consumed in the low pursuits of avarice, or the gaudy frivolties of fashion, unobservant of nature's lovelinessof demarcation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form should lie.
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) -The History of Animals, Book VIII, Part 1, tr. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) -The History of Animals, Book VIII, Part 1, tr. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
Mountains inspire awe in any human person who has a soul. They remind us of our frailty, our unimportance, of the briefness of our span on this earth. They touch the heavens, and sail serenely at an altitude beyond even the imaginings of a mere mortal.
Elizabeth Aston in "The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy: A novel," 2005.
Elizabeth Aston in "The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy: A novel," 2005.
. . .nature indifferently copied is far superior to the best idealities.
John James Audubon - The Life and Adventures of John James Audubon, the Naturalist (1868)
John James Audubon - The Life and Adventures of John James Audubon, the Naturalist (1868)
Nature is the art of God - LA NATURA E L'ARTE DI DIODante Alighieri (See also Sir Thomas Browne, below)
Men go forth to marvel at the height of mountains, and the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the rivers, the vastness of the ocean, the orbits of the stars, and yet they neglect to marvel at themselves. Variant: Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) - Confessions (c. 397), Book 10, Chapter VIII.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) - Confessions (c. 397), Book 10, Chapter VIII.
A portent happens not contrary to nature, but contrary to what we know as nature.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) - City of God, Book XXI, Chapter 8, Tr. Rev. M. Dods,
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) - City of God, Book XXI, Chapter 8, Tr. Rev. M. Dods,
Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.
Marcus Aurelius(121-180) - Meditations (c. 161–180 CE) IV, 5.
Marcus Aurelius(121-180) - Meditations (c. 161–180 CE) IV, 5.
No form of nature is inferior to art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms. - Variant: There is no nature which is inferior to art, the arts imitate the nature of things.
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) - Meditations. xi. 10.
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) - Meditations. xi. 10.
One cannot fix one's eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) - Mansfield Park, 1814
Jane Austen (1775-1817) - Mansfield Park, 1814
Nature is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom extinguished.
Sir Francis Bacon - Essays, "Of Nature, In Men," (speaking of the nature of man) 1627
Sir Francis Bacon - Essays, "Of Nature, In Men," (speaking of the nature of man) 1627
Art is man added to Nature.
Sir Francis Bacon - Descriptio Globi Intellectus (1612).
Sir Francis Bacon - Descriptio Globi Intellectus (1612).
Nature to be commanded must be obeyed.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Novum Organum (The New Organon) (1620) - bk. 1, aph. 129
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Novum Organum (The New Organon) (1620) - bk. 1, aph. 129
The breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air than in the hand.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Bacon's Essays, "Of Gardens," 1627
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Bacon's Essays, "Of Gardens," 1627
In nature, things move violently to their place, and then calmly in their place.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Bacon's Essays, "Of Great Places," p. 27, 1627
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Bacon's Essays, "Of Great Places," p. 27, 1627
Art is man added to Nature.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) -Descriptio Globi Intellectus, 1612
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) -Descriptio Globi Intellectus, 1612
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which, buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Essays, "Of Gardens," 1627
Man, being servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he as observed in fact or thought of the course of nature; beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - Essays, "Of Gardens," 1627
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - The New Organon (1620) in James Spedding, Robert Ellis and Douglas Heath (eds.), The works of Francis Bacon (1877-1901), Vol 4, p. 47.
Art is man's nature; nature is God's art.
Phillip James Bailey - Festus, Pr the Jubilee revision, (1839)
Phillip James Bailey - Festus, Pr the Jubilee revision, (1839)
What is Art, monsieur, but Nature concentrated?
Qu’est-ce que l’Art, monsieur? C’est la Nature concentrée.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Illusions perdues, vol I, 1839, trans. Ellen Marriage, ch. I, section 5
Qu’est-ce que l’Art, monsieur? C’est la Nature concentrée.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Illusions perdues, vol I, 1839, trans. Ellen Marriage, ch. I, section 5
God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
J.M. Barrie - Courage, pg 1, 1922
J.M. Barrie - Courage, pg 1, 1922
I was obliged, at last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of nature alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind.
Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892) - The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Vol 2, ch 3, London, 1863, p. 186
Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892) - The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Vol 2, ch 3, London, 1863, p. 186
For you teach very clearly by your behaviour how slowly and how meagerly our senses proceed in the investigation of ever inexhaustible nature.
Biambatista Beccaria (1716-1781) - Elettricismo artificiale (1772), vii-viii, in Antonio Pace, Franklin and Italy, 1958, p. 58.
Biambatista Beccaria (1716-1781) - Elettricismo artificiale (1772), vii-viii, in Antonio Pace, Franklin and Italy, 1958, p. 58.
It is the end of art to inoculate men with the love of nature. But those who have a psssion for nature in the natural way, need no pictures nor gallereies. Spring is their designer, and the whole year their artist.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) - Star Papers, or Experiences of Art and Nature, "A Discourse of Flowers," Beecher, Applewood Books, Bedford MA, 1855, p.94.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) - Star Papers, or Experiences of Art and Nature, "A Discourse of Flowers," Beecher, Applewood Books, Bedford MA, 1855, p.94.
Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters.
Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod a magistris audire non possis.
Bernard of Clairvaux - St. Bernard - Epistola CVI, sect. 2; translation from Edward Churton The Early English Church ([1840] 1841) p. 324.
Experto crede: aliquid amplius invenies in silvis, quam in libris. Ligna et lapides docebunt te, quod a magistris audire non possis.
Bernard of Clairvaux - St. Bernard - Epistola CVI, sect. 2; translation from Edward Churton The Early English Church ([1840] 1841) p. 324.
People who want to see the beauty of nature from motorboats and automobiles would obviously be just as pleased, and as fully recreated, at a drive-in movie.
Wendell Berry (1934 - ) The Unforseen Wilderness: An Essay on Kentucky's Red River George, University Press of Kentucky, 1971
Wendell Berry (1934 - ) The Unforseen Wilderness: An Essay on Kentucky's Red River George, University Press of Kentucky, 1971
Nature is always lavish of her gifts even to the most insignificant forms. The butterflies and moths are richly dowered in this respect.
Anne Besant (1847-1933) - "The Clothes' Moth," Our Corner, Vol 4, No. 1, July 1884, p40
Anne Besant (1847-1933) - "The Clothes' Moth," Our Corner, Vol 4, No. 1, July 1884, p40
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and the dawn seen over the ocean from the beach.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House (1928)
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House (1928)
Into every empty corner, into all forgotten things and nooks, Nature struggles to pour life, pouring life into the dead, life into life itself.Henry Beston (1888-1968) - "Lantern on the Beach," The Outermost House (1928)
When the Pleiades and the wind in the grass are no longer a part of the human spirit, a part of very flesh and bone, man becomes, as it were a kind of cosmic outlaw, having neither the completeness and integrity of the animal nor the birthright of a true humanity.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House (1928)
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House (1928)
The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - "The Headlong Wave,", The Outermost House, Chapter III, p 43, Rinehart & Co, NY, NY, (1928)
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - "The Headlong Wave,", The Outermost House, Chapter III, p 43, Rinehart & Co, NY, NY, (1928)
As well expect Nature to answer your human values as to come into your house and sit in a chair.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House, Chapter X, p221, Rinehart & Co, NY, NY, (1928)
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House, Chapter X, p221, Rinehart & Co, NY, NY, (1928)
What is Art, but Nature concentrated?
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Illusions perdues, vol I: Un grand homme de province à Paris, 1re partie [Lost Illusions, vol. I: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, part I] (1839), translated by Ellen Marriage, ch. I, section 5.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Illusions perdues, vol I: Un grand homme de province à Paris, 1re partie [Lost Illusions, vol. I: A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, part I] (1839), translated by Ellen Marriage, ch. I, section 5.
If we study Nature attentively in its great evolutions as in its minutest works, we cannot fail to recognize the possibility of enchantment — giving to that word its exact significance.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Seraphita (1835), Ch. 2: Seraphita. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) - Seraphita (1835), Ch. 2: Seraphita. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
I am speaking of the life of a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to cherish it and do it no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but because he loves the world and loves his children.
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - The Unforeseen Wilderness : An Essay on Kentucky's Red River Gorge (1971), p. 33 - Misattributed to James Audubon
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - The Unforeseen Wilderness : An Essay on Kentucky's Red River Gorge (1971), p. 33 - Misattributed to James Audubon
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - From the endorsement statement for The Dying of the Trees (1997) by Charles E. Little
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - From the endorsement statement for The Dying of the Trees (1997) by Charles E. Little
We're living, it seems, in the culmination of a long warfare — warfare against human beings, other creatures and the Earth itself.
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - Commencement address at Lindsey Wilson College (14 May 2005)
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - Commencement address at Lindsey Wilson College (14 May 2005)
To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - The Gift of Good Land, North Point Press, 1981, p. 270
Wendell Berry (1934- ) - The Gift of Good Land, North Point Press, 1981, p. 270
Nature is always lavish of her gifts even to the most insignificant forms. The butterflies and moths are richly dowered in this respect.
Anne Besant (1847-1933) - The Clothes' Moth, Our Corner, Vol. 4, No 1, July, 1884 (p. 40)
Anne Besant (1847-1933) - The Clothes' Moth, Our Corner, Vol. 4, No 1, July, 1884 (p. 40)
Nature is part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery, man ceases to be man.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House, Forward (p. ix), Rinehart & Co. NY, NY, 1928
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - The Outermost House, Forward (p. ix), Rinehart & Co. NY, NY, 1928
If there is one thing clear about the centuries dominated by the factory and the wheel, it is that although the machine can make everything from a spoon to a landing-craft, a natural join in earthly living is something it never has and never will be able to manufacture. It has given us conveniences (often most uncomfortable) and comforts (often most inconvenient) but human happiness was never on its tray of wares.
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - Northern Farm: A chronicle of Maine, Down East Books, 1988
Henry Beston (1888-1968) - Northern Farm: A chronicle of Maine, Down East Books, 1988
Nature always tends to act in the simplest way.
Johann Bernoulli (1700-1782) - Essay on the Brachistochrone, Acta Eruditorum, May 1697
Johann Bernoulli (1700-1782) - Essay on the Brachistochrone, Acta Eruditorum, May 1697
Nature is just enough; but men and women must comprehend and accept her suggestions.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825-1921) - "Sex and Evolution," in The Neglected Canon: Nine Women Philosophers: First to the Twentieth Century, ed Dykeman, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, p. 350
Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825-1921) - "Sex and Evolution," in The Neglected Canon: Nine Women Philosophers: First to the Twentieth Century, ed Dykeman, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, p. 350
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity . . . and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
William Blake (1757-1827) - The Letters of William Blake, ed Geoffrey Keynes (1956,) Letter to Rev. Dr. Trusler, August 23, 1799
William Blake (1757-1827) - The Letters of William Blake, ed Geoffrey Keynes (1956,) Letter to Rev. Dr. Trusler, August 23, 1799
In Nature nothing remains constant. Everything is in a perpetual state of transformation, motion and change.
David Bohm (1917-1992) - Causality and Chance in Modern Physics, Chapter 1, p1, University of Penn. Press, 1957
David Bohm (1917-1992) - Causality and Chance in Modern Physics, Chapter 1, p1, University of Penn. Press, 1957
Nature always springs to the surface and manages to show what she is. It is vain to stop or try to drive her back. She breaks through every obstacle, pushes forward, and at last makes for herself a way.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux - Sat. xi 43.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux - Sat. xi 43.
Man is wise and constantly in quest of more wisdom; but the ultimate wisdom, which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls forth faith rather than reason.
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - "The Certainty - April 5," Sundial of the Seasons (1964)
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - "The Certainty - April 5," Sundial of the Seasons (1964)
There are no idealists in the plant world and no compassion. The rose and the morning glory know no mercy. Bindweed, the morning glory, will quickly choke its competitors to death, and the fence row rose will just as quietly crowd out any other plant that tried to share its roothold. Idealism and mercy are human terms and human concepts.
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - Book of Days, 22 July, 1976, 1976
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - Book of Days, 22 July, 1976, 1976
There are some things, but not too many, toward which the countryman knows he must be properly respectful if he would avoid pain, sickness and injury. Nature is neither punitive nor solicitous, but she has thorns and fangs as wells as bowers and grassy banks.
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - Beyond your Doorstep: A handbook to the Country, Ch. 13, p. 303, 1962
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - Beyond your Doorstep: A handbook to the Country, Ch. 13, p. 303, 1962
Nature seems to look after her own only up to a certain point; beyond that they are supposed to fend for themselves.
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - The Enduring Pattern, "Life, Flesh and Blood: Amphibians," (p.185), Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 1959
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - The Enduring Pattern, "Life, Flesh and Blood: Amphibians," (p.185), Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 1959
Nothing in nature is as simple as it sometimes seems when reduced to words.
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - The Enduring Pattern, "Life, Flesh and Blood: Reptiles," (p.189), Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 1959
Hal Borland (1900-1978) - The Enduring Pattern, "Life, Flesh and Blood: Reptiles," (p.189), Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 1959
Nature always looks out for the preservation of the universe.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691 ) - A free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature, Section IV, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p 31
Robert Boyle (1627-1691 ) - A free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature, Section IV, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p 31
Man masters nature not by force, but by understanding.
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) - "The Creative Mind," Science and Human Values (1956), Lecture given at MIT, Feb 26, 1953
Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) - "The Creative Mind," Science and Human Values (1956), Lecture given at MIT, Feb 26, 1953
Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact line ure hath made one world, and art another. In brief, all things are artificial; for nature is the Art of God.
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) - Religio Medici, Part 1, (sec. 16) - See also Dante Alighieri, above
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) - Religio Medici, Part 1, (sec. 16) - See also Dante Alighieri, above
Thus there are two books from whence I collect my Divinity; besides that written one of God, another of his servant Nature, that universal and public Manuscript, that lies expans'd unto the eyes of all; those that never saw him in the one, have discovered him in the other.
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) - Religio Medici, Part 1, Section 16., 1642
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) - Religio Medici, Part 1, Section 16., 1642
Nature is none other than God in all things.
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) - Quoted in Elements of Pantheism (2004), Paul A. Harrison
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) - Quoted in Elements of Pantheism (2004), Paul A. Harrison
Nature does not tolerate the whimsical and the inane; all her structures are on principles, and she allows no others.
J. Ingram Bryan (1868-1953) - The Interpretation of Nature in English Poetry, Ch 1 (p. 6) Tokyo, Japan, 1932
J. Ingram Bryan (1868-1953) - The Interpretation of Nature in English Poetry, Ch 1 (p. 6) Tokyo, Japan, 1932
The great workman of nature is time.
George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) - 'Les Animaux Sauvages', Historie Naturelle, 1756, Quoted in Jacques Rooger,The Life Sciences in Eighteenth-Century French Thought, ed K. Benson, tr R. Ellrich, 1997, p468.
George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) - 'Les Animaux Sauvages', Historie Naturelle, 1756, Quoted in Jacques Rooger,The Life Sciences in Eighteenth-Century French Thought, ed K. Benson, tr R. Ellrich, 1997, p468.
Nature is the system of laws established by the Creator for the existence of things and for the succession of creatures. Nature is not a thing, because this thing would be everything. Nature is not a creature, because this creature would be God. But one can consider it as an immense vital power, which encompasses all, which animates all, and which, subordinated to the power of the first Being, has begun to act only by his order, and still acts only by his concourse or consent . . . Time, space and matter are its means, the universe its object, motion and life its goal.
George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) - 'De La Nature: Premiere Vue', Historie naturelle, generale et particuliere avec la descritpion du cabinet du roi (1764), Vol 12, iii-1v. Tr Phillip R. Sloan
George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) - 'De La Nature: Premiere Vue', Historie naturelle, generale et particuliere avec la descritpion du cabinet du roi (1764), Vol 12, iii-1v. Tr Phillip R. Sloan
All scientists have found that preconceived notions, dogmas, and all personal prejudice and bias, must be set aside, listening patiently, quietly and reverently to the lessons, one by one, which Mother Nature has to teach, shedding light on that which was before a mystery, so that all who will may see and know. She conveys her truths only to those who are passive and receptive.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - "How to Produce New Trees, Fruits and Flowers," Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1895, Volumes 24-26, Twenty-Fourth Session, p. 59.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - "How to Produce New Trees, Fruits and Flowers," Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1895, Volumes 24-26, Twenty-Fourth Session, p. 59.
The serenity produced by the contemplation and philosophy of nature is the only remedy for prejudice, superstition, and inordinate self-importance, teaching us that we are all a part of Nature herself, strengthening the bond of sympathy which should exist between ourselves and our brother man. . .
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - "How to Produce New Trees, Fruits and Flowers," Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1895, Volumes 24-26, Twenty-Fourth Session, p. 61.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - "How to Produce New Trees, Fruits and Flowers," Proceedings of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1895, Volumes 24-26, Twenty-Fourth Session, p. 61.
Nature's law affirm instead of prohibit. If you violate her laws, you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury, and hangman.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - The Harvest of the Years, Luther Burbank, Wilbur Hall, Houghton Mifflin company, 1931, p. 267.
Luther Burbank (1849-1926) - The Harvest of the Years, Luther Burbank, Wilbur Hall, Houghton Mifflin company, 1931, p. 267.
Look abroad through Nature's range,
Nature's mighty law is change.
Robert Burns (1759-1796) - Let not woman e'er complain, 1794.
Nature's mighty law is change.
Robert Burns (1759-1796) - Let not woman e'er complain, 1794.
In the order of nature we may behold the ways of the Eternal.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Light of Day
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Light of Day
Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - Time and Change, 247.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - Time and Change, 247.
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure, in the common, the near at hand – to see that heaven lies about us here in this world.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - "The Divine Soil," The Atlantic Monthly, April, 1908, p 440.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - "The Divine Soil," The Atlantic Monthly, April, 1908, p 440.
Nature exists for man no more than she does for monkeys, and is as regardless of his life or pleasure or success as she is of the fleas. Her waves will drown him, her fire burn him, and her earth devour him, her storms and lightning smite him, as if he were only a dog.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Heart of Burrough's Journals, Jan 17, 1866, p. 46, Houghten Mifflin Co., Boston, 1928
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Heart of Burrough's Journals, Jan 17, 1866, p. 46, Houghten Mifflin Co., Boston, 1928
Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover — to him who revels with her, bathes in her seas, sails her rivers, camps in her woods, and with no mercenary ends, accepts all.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Heart of Burrough's Journals, Jan 17, 1866, p. 46, Houghten Mifflin Co., Boston, 1928
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - The Heart of Burrough's Journals, Jan 17, 1866, p. 46, Houghten Mifflin Co., Boston, 1928
Nature is not benevolent; Nature is just, gives pound for pound, measure for measure, makes no exceptions, never tempers her decrees with mercy, or winks at any infringement of her laws.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - Harvest of a Quiet Eye: The Natural World of John Burroughs, The Gospel of Nature, 5 (p. 149, 1976
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - Harvest of a Quiet Eye: The Natural World of John Burroughs, The Gospel of Nature, 5 (p. 149, 1976
To the scientist Nature is a storehouse of facts, laws, processes; to the artist she is a storehouse of pictures; to the poet she is a storehouse of images, fancies, a source of inspiration; to the moralist she is a storehouse of precepts and parables; to all she may be a source of knowledge and joy.
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - "The Art of Seeing Things," Leaf and Tendril (1908)
John Burroughs (1837-1921) - "The Art of Seeing Things," Leaf and Tendril (1908)
The art of nature is all in the direction of concealment.John Burroughs (1837-1921) - "The Art of Seeing Things," Leaf and Tendril (1908)
The life of nature we must meet halfway; it is shy, withdrawn, and blends itself with a vast neutral background. We must be initiated; it is an order the secrets of which are well guarded.
John Burroughs (1837-1921)- "The Art of Seeing Things," Leaf and Tendril (1908)
John Burroughs (1837-1921)- "The Art of Seeing Things," Leaf and Tendril (1908)
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in it's roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
Lord Byron (1788-1824) - "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Canto IV, CLXXVIII, The complete works of Lord Byron, Galignani And Co., Paris, 1841, p. 146.
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in it's roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
Lord Byron (1788-1824) - "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Canto IV, CLXXVIII, The complete works of Lord Byron, Galignani And Co., Paris, 1841, p. 146.
Did I say the book of nature is a catechism? Yes, But, after it answers the first question with "God," nothing but questions follow.
George W. Cable, (1844-1925) - Madame Delphine, Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, NY, 1896, p 36.
George W. Cable, (1844-1925) - Madame Delphine, Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, NY, 1896, p 36.
Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) - As quoted in Visions from Earth (2004) by James R. Miller, p. 126
Albert Camus (1913-1960) - As quoted in Visions from Earth (2004) by James R. Miller, p. 126
The laws of nature may be operative up to a certain limit, beyond which they turn against themselves to give birth to the absurd.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) - The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays, "Philosophical Suicide," p37, Tr Justin O'Brien, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, NY, 1978
Albert Camus (1913-1960) - The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays, "Philosophical Suicide," p37, Tr Justin O'Brien, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, NY, 1978
The greatest joy in nature is the absence of man.
Bliss Carman (1861-1929) - New York Times review of Mr. Carman's Prose; A Volume Of Little Essays By The Canadian Poet. (1903)
Bliss Carman (1861-1929) - New York Times review of Mr. Carman's Prose; A Volume Of Little Essays By The Canadian Poet. (1903)
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about — whenever the wind blows —
Louis Carroll -Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
Louis Carroll -Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)- The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)- The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Nature reserves some of her choice rewards for days when her mood may appear to be somber.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder, (1956)
Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder (1956)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - The Sense of Wonder (1956)
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) -The Sense of Wonder (1956)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) -The Sense of Wonder (1956)
The "control of nature" is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Silent Spring, Houghton Miffin, 1962
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Silent Spring, Houghton Miffin, 1962
We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Silent Spring, Houghton Miffin, 1962, p. 277
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Silent Spring, Houghton Miffin, 1962, p. 277
. . . the more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal (April 1952)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal (April 1952)
More and more as we come closer and closer in touch with nature and its teachings are we able to see the Divine and are therefore fitted to interpret correctly the various languages spoken by all forms of nature about us.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt (1930-02-24)
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt (1930-02-24)
I love to think of nature as having unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt (1930-02-24)
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt (1930-02-24)
Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - Quoted in George Washington Carver: Agricultural Innovator, Helga Schier, ABDO Publishing, MN, 2008, p. 79
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - Quoted in George Washington Carver: Agricultural Innovator, Helga Schier, ABDO Publishing, MN, 2008, p. 79
The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its life, just as the body droops when debarred from the air and the cheering light from heaven.
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) - Remarks on the Character and Writings of Fénelon (1843)
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) - Remarks on the Character and Writings of Fénelon (1843)
Every year we hear of large numbers of people making trips at the expense of much money and a great deal of time, in order to look upon the far famed dress of Nature . . . And I do not think that this is to be deplored: but, nevertheless, there is no reason why the most of us, who cannot afford such a great outlay, should sit aside and bemoan the fact; for, if ever there was a true saying, it is the statement that all about us, beneath our feet, above our head, on the right hand, on the left - yes, everywhere - are to be found subjects which are as well worth our careful attention as in the loveliest combination of water, hill and dale that the earth can show.
A. C. Chant - Papers read before the Mathematical and physical society of Toronto during the Year 1890-91, Baker, Alfred; Delury, A. T. and Chant, A. C., "The Structure of Matter," p31, Rowsell & Hutchison, Toronto, Canada, 1891
A. C. Chant - Papers read before the Mathematical and physical society of Toronto during the Year 1890-91, Baker, Alfred; Delury, A. T. and Chant, A. C., "The Structure of Matter," p31, Rowsell & Hutchison, Toronto, Canada, 1891
All nature is a vast symbolism: Every material fact has sheathed within it a spiritual truth.
Edwin Hubble (E.H.) Chapin (1814-1880)- Living Words (1869)
Edwin Hubble (E.H.) Chapin (1814-1880)- Living Words (1869)
The dawn of life is like the dawn of day, full of purity, visions and harmonies.
François de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) - René, Translated by A.S.Kline, 2010.
François de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) - René, Translated by A.S.Kline, 2010.
That man's best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature's infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should make himself an imitation, this is the fact which Nature moans over, and deprecates beseechingly. Be spontaneous, be truthful, be free, and thus be individuals! is the song she sings through warbling birds, and whispering pines, and roaring waves, and screeching winds.
Lydia M. Child (1802-1880) - Letters from New York, Letter XXXVIII, p276, C.S. Francis & Company, NY, NY 1945
Lydia M. Child (1802-1880) - Letters from New York, Letter XXXVIII, p276, C.S. Francis & Company, NY, NY 1945
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.Chinese Proverb
Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art.
Lat., Meliora sunt ea quae natura quam illa quae arte perfecta sunt.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Natura Deorum (II, 34)
Lat., Meliora sunt ea quae natura quam illa quae arte perfecta sunt.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Natura Deorum (II, 34)
I follow nature as the surest guide, and resign myself with implicit obedience to her sacred ordinances.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully) (106-43 B.C.) - Cicero: the Orations translated by Duncan, the Offices by Cockman, Volume 3, Cato: Or, An Essay on Old Age
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully) (106-43 B.C.) - Cicero: the Orations translated by Duncan, the Offices by Cockman, Volume 3, Cato: Or, An Essay on Old Age
Nature has circumscribed the field of life within small dimensions, but has left the field of glory unmeasured.
"Etenim, Quirites, exiguum nobis vitae curriculum natura circum- scripsit, immensum gloriae."
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully) (106-43 B.C.) - Pro C. Eabirio perduellionis reo, X., 30.
"Etenim, Quirites, exiguum nobis vitae curriculum natura circum- scripsit, immensum gloriae."
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully) (106-43 B.C.) - Pro C. Eabirio perduellionis reo, X., 30.
Law is the highest reason implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De legibus, I, vi, 8.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De legibus, I, vi, 8.
Not in opinion but in nature is law founded.
neque opinione sed natura constitutum esse jus
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De legibus, I, x, 28
neque opinione sed natura constitutum esse jus
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De legibus, I, x, 28
Nature abhors annihilation.
Ab interitu naturam abhorrere.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Finibus (V, 11, 3)
Ab interitu naturam abhorrere.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Finibus (V, 11, 3)
Nature herself makes the wise man rich.
Sapientem locupletat ipsa Natura.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Finibus (II, 28, 90)
Sapientem locupletat ipsa Natura.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - De Finibus (II, 28, 90)
The beauty of the world and the orderly arrangement of everything celestial makes us confess that there is an excellent and eternal nature, which ought to be worshiped and admired by all mankind.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - Divin. vol. ii, p.72
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Tully)(106-43 B.C.) - Divin. vol. ii, p.72
The gossamer web of life, spun on the loom of sunlight from the breath of an infant Earth, is nature's crowning achievement on this planet.
Preston E. Cloud (1912-1991) - Oasis in Space, Earth History from the Beginning, W.W. Norton & Co, NY, 1988, p. 42.
Preston E. Cloud (1912-1991) - Oasis in Space, Earth History from the Beginning, W.W. Norton & Co, NY, 1988, p. 42.
Overall, rocks, wood and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its innermost depths.
Thomas Cole (1801-1884) - Essay in American Scenery, American Monthly Magazine, January 1836
Thomas Cole (1801-1884) - Essay in American Scenery, American Monthly Magazine, January 1836
Now nature is not at variance with art, nor art with nature; they being both the servants of his providence. Art is the perfection of nature. Were the world now as it was the sixth day, there were yet a chaos. Nat, are unconscious of the harmony of creation.
Thomas Cole (1801-1884) - Essay in American Scenery, American Monthly Magazine, January 1836
Thomas Cole (1801-1884) - Essay in American Scenery, American Monthly Magazine, January 1836
All argument will vanish before one touch of nature.
George Colman (The Younger) - Poor Gentleman (act V, 1)
George Colman (The Younger) - Poor Gentleman (act V, 1)
Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of life you lead, you remain irrevocably linked with the rest of creation.
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001
Now that we're essentially an indoor species, walled off from the world of other life forms, we're divorced from the very domain that supports and sustains our lives.
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001, p.3.
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001, p.3.
The idea of regularly acknowledging our indebtedness to the natural world and giving thanks for the many gifts we receive from it, or considering other species to be our close "relations" which many indigenous peoples still do, couldn't be more alien to most of us.
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001, p.5.
Charles Cook - Awakening to Nature, Charles Cook, Contemporary Books, 2001, p.5.
There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer.
President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) - The mind of the President: as revealed by himself in his own words. 1926, p302.
President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) - The mind of the President: as revealed by himself in his own words. 1926, p302.
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.
William Cowper (1731-1800) - The Task (1785) Book VI, Winter Walk at Noon, l. 223
Whose cause is God.
William Cowper (1731-1800) - The Task (1785) Book VI, Winter Walk at Noon, l. 223
Nature, exerting an unwearied power,
Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.
William Cowper (1731-1800) - Table Talk. Line 690.
(Naiads = Greek Mythology - a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks; meads = meadow)
Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower;
Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads
The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads.
William Cowper (1731-1800) - Table Talk. Line 690.
(Naiads = Greek Mythology - a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks; meads = meadow)
...Nature—the word that stands for the baffling mysteries of the Universe. Steadily, unflinchingly, we strive to pierce the inmost heart of Nature, from what she is to reconstruct what she has been, and to prophesy what she yet shall be. Veil after veil we have lifted, and her face grows more beautiful, august, and wonderful, with every barrier that is withdrawn.
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) - in Practical Mind Reading, William Walker Atkinson, Lesson 1, p9, British association for the Advancement of Science, Bristol, England. 1908
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) - in Practical Mind Reading, William Walker Atkinson, Lesson 1, p9, British association for the Advancement of Science, Bristol, England. 1908
All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.
Marie Curie - Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 162
Marie Curie - Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 162
All the forces in nature that are the most powerful, are the most quiet.
John Cumming (1807-1881) - The Daily Life, 1855, p 256.
John Cumming (1807-1881) - The Daily Life, 1855, p 256.
Nature throws her choicest treasures at their feet, but they walk over them disregardful and insensible; while it is true that some even of the commonest productions of the sea productions which are unnoticed from their very abundance would well repay careful study and patient investigation.
William E. Damon - Ocean Wonders: Companion for the Seaside, preface (p.v), D. Appleton & Co, NY, NY, 1879
William E. Damon - Ocean Wonders: Companion for the Seaside, preface (p.v), D. Appleton & Co, NY, NY, 1879
The more I study Nature, the more I become impressed with ever-increasing force that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations slowly acquired through each part, occasionally varying in a slight degree, but in many ways, with the preservation of those variations which were beneficial to the organism under complex and ever-varying conditions of life, transcend in an incomparable manner the contrivances and adaptations which the most fertile imagination of man could invent.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) - The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, Chapter IX (p285), John Murray, London, 1904
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) - The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, Chapter IX (p285), John Murray, London, 1904
When man gives his whole heart to Nature, and has no cares outside, it is surprising how observant he becomes, and how curious he is to know the cause of things.
William Davies II (1871-1940) - Nature, Ch. I (p. 15), B.T. Batsford, Ltd, London, 1914
William Davies II (1871-1940) - Nature, Ch. I (p. 15), B.T. Batsford, Ltd, London, 1914
Nature is beautiful, and you are in her bosom. That voice of comfort which speaks in the breezes of morning, may visit your mind, that the delightful influences which the green leaves, the blue sky, the moonbeams and clouds of the evening diffuse over the universe, may in their powers of soul-healing, visit your day visions, is my desire and hope.
Sir Humphry Davy (1718-1829) - Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific, of Sir Humphry Davy, Chapter I (p.14), John Churchill, London, 1858
Sir Humphry Davy (1718-1829) - Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific, of Sir Humphry Davy, Chapter I (p.14), John Churchill, London, 1858
The whole language of nature informs us, that in animated beings there is something above our powers of investigation; something which employs, combines, and arranges the gross elements of matter — a spark of celestial fire, by which life is kindled and preserved, and which, if even the instruments it employs are indestructible in their essence, must itself, of necessity, be immortal.
Sir Humphry Davy (1718-1829) - Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy, ed. John Davy, (Vol 1), Chapter 3, p 218, London, 1836
Sir Humphry Davy (1718-1829) - Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy, ed. John Davy, (Vol 1), Chapter 3, p 218, London, 1836
The true wisdom of the philosopher ought to insist in enjoying everything. Yet we apply ourselves to dissecting and destroying everything that is good in itself, that has virtue, albeit the virtue there is in mere illusions. Nature gives us this life like a toy to a weak child. We want to see how it all works; we break everything. There remains in our hands, and before our eyes, stupid and opened too late, the sterile wreckage, fragments that will not again make a whole. The good is so simple.
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) - The Journal of Eugene Delacroix, Tr Walter Pach, Tuesday, June 1, 1824 (p. 92), Covici, NY, NY, 1937
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) - The Journal of Eugene Delacroix, Tr Walter Pach, Tuesday, June 1, 1824 (p. 92), Covici, NY, NY, 1937
Nature creates unity even in the parts of a whole.
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) - The Journal of Eugene Delacroix, Tr Walter Pach, Jan. 25, 1857, Covici, NY, NY, 1937
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) - The Journal of Eugene Delacroix, Tr Walter Pach, Jan. 25, 1857, Covici, NY, NY, 1937
Man's home is nature; his purposes and aims are dependent for execution upon natural conditions. Separated from such conditions they become empty dreams and idle indulgences of fancy.
John Dewey (1859-1952) - Democracy and Education (1916) Section 21
John Dewey (1859-1952) - Democracy and Education (1916) Section 21
Nature is the mother and the habitat of man, even if sometimes a stepmother and an unfriendly home.
John Dewey (1859-1952) - Originally published 1934. Art as Experience, ch. 2, Capricorn Books (1958)
John Dewey (1859-1952) - Originally published 1934. Art as Experience, ch. 2, Capricorn Books (1958)
Unfortunately, nature is very much a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair. A fish flashes, then dissolves in the water before my eyes like so much salt. Deer apparently ascend bodily into heaven; the brightest oriole fades into leaves.
Annie Dillard (1945- ) - Pilgrim At Tinker Creek, Ch 2 p16, Harpers Magazine Press, 1974
Annie Dillard (1945- ) - Pilgrim At Tinker Creek, Ch 2 p16, Harpers Magazine Press, 1974
Nature is a book of many pages and each page tells a fascinating story to him who learns her language. Our fertile valleys and craggy mountains recite an epic poem of geologic conflicts. The starry sky reveal gigantic suns and space and time without end.
Andrew Ellicott Douglas (1867-1962) - Annual Report of the board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1922, Some Aspects of the Use of the Annual Rings of Trees in Climatic Study, p 223, Government Printing Office, 1924
Andrew Ellicott Douglas (1867-1962) - Annual Report of the board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1922, Some Aspects of the Use of the Annual Rings of Trees in Climatic Study, p 223, Government Printing Office, 1924
For Art may err, but Nature cannot miss.
John Dryden (1631–1700) - The Cock and the Fox. Line 452.
John Dryden (1631–1700) - The Cock and the Fox. Line 452.
The belief that we can manage the Earth and improve on Nature is probably the ultimate expression of human conceit, but it has deep roots in the past and is almost universal.
Rene J. Dubos, (1901-1982), The Wooing of the Earth, 1980.
Rene J. Dubos, (1901-1982), The Wooing of the Earth, 1980.
The peace of nature and of the innocent creatures of God seems to be secure and deep, only so long as the presence of man and his restless and unquiet spirit are not there to trouble its sanctity.
Tomas De Quincey, "Preliminary Confessions" (1821- 56)
Tomas De Quincey, "Preliminary Confessions" (1821- 56)
Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - attributed in multiple sources but without citation
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - attributed in multiple sources but without citation
We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy — sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - Uncommon Friends : Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James Newton, p. 31
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) - Uncommon Friends : Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James Newton, p. 31
Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.
Gretel Ehrlich (1946 - ) - Essay "On Water," in Words from the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing, ed. S. Trimble, Peregrine Smith Books, 1988.
Gretel Ehrlich (1946 - ) - Essay "On Water," in Words from the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing, ed. S. Trimble, Peregrine Smith Books, 1988.
Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But there is no doubt in my mind that the lion belongs with it even if he cannot reveal himself to the eye all at once because of his huge dimension.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Letter to H. Zangger (10 March 1914), quoted in The Curious History of Relativity by Jean Eisenstaedt (2006), p. 126
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Letter to H. Zangger (10 March 1914), quoted in The Curious History of Relativity by Jean Eisenstaedt (2006), p. 126
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Quoted in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dec 1981, Vol 37, No 10, p52. A shorter, different version of the quote appears in a letter to Robert S. Marcus, Feb 12, 1960. The quote there states:
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is in the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish the delusion but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/einstein-sleuthing/3637 Whether or not Einstein later expanded the passage is unknown.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Quoted in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dec 1981, Vol 37, No 10, p52. A shorter, different version of the quote appears in a letter to Robert S. Marcus, Feb 12, 1960. The quote there states:
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is in the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish the delusion but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/einstein-sleuthing/3637 Whether or not Einstein later expanded the passage is unknown.
The wonder of nature does not become smaller because one cannot measure it by the standards of human moral and human aims.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - 7 August 1941 letter discussing responses to his essay "Science and Religion" (1941)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - 7 August 1941 letter discussing responses to his essay "Science and Religion" (1941)
Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Response to atheist Alfred Kerr in the winter of 1927 - as quoted in The Diary of a Cosmopolitan (1971) by H. G. Kessler
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Response to atheist Alfred Kerr in the winter of 1927 - as quoted in The Diary of a Cosmopolitan (1971) by H. G. Kessler
Nature conceals her secrets because she is sublime, not because she is a trickster.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Letter to Oscar Veblen, April 30, 1930.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Letter to Oscar Veblen, April 30, 1930.
Nature repairs her ravages, but not all. The uptorn trees are not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a new growth, the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending. To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough repair.
George Eliot - The Mill on the Floss (1860)
George Eliot - The Mill on the Floss (1860)
When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Address: The Method of Nature
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Address: The Method of Nature
To the dull mind nature is leaden; To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with lightRalph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journal May 20, 1831 Illumination
The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals (1822-1863), 25 May 1843
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals (1822-1863), 25 May 1843
Nature is saturated with Deity.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - "The Relation of Intellect to Natural Science," Deilvered June 8, 1848, in The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871, Vol 1, Ed. Bosco, p. 162
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - "The Relation of Intellect to Natural Science," Deilvered June 8, 1848, in The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871, Vol 1, Ed. Bosco, p. 162
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Lectures and Biographical Sketches (Education)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Lectures and Biographical Sketches (Education)
The universe is represented in every one of its particles. Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay: "Compensation"
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay: "Compensation"
Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essays, First Series, "History" 1841
Nature is a rag-merchant, who works up every shred and ort and end into new creations; like a good chemist, whom I found, the other day, in his laboratory, converting his old shirts into pure white sugar.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essays and Lectures, "The Conduct of Life," VII Considerations by the Way, 1860.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essays and Lectures, "The Conduct of Life," VII Considerations by the Way, 1860.
Power is in nature the essential measure of right.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Self Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Self Reliance
Nature is no sentimentalist, — does not cosset or pamper us. We must see that the world is rough and surly, and will not mind drowning a man or a woman; but swallows your ship like a grain of dust. The cold, inconsiderate of persons, tingles your blood, benumbs your feet, freezes a man like an apple. The diseases, the elements, fortune, gravity, lightning, respect no persons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - The Conduct of Life: Fate (1860, rev. 1876)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - The Conduct of Life: Fate (1860, rev. 1876)
Nature is a tropical swamp in sunshine, on whose purlieus we hear the song of summer birds, and see prismatic dewdrops, - but her interiors are terrific, full of hydras and crocodiles.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - "Moral Sense," in The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1843-1871: 1855-1871, ed Bosco & Myerson, 2010.
Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Nature - Ch. 1.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Nature - Ch. 1.
Old & New put their stamp to everything in Nature. The snowflake that is now falling is marked by both. The present moment gives the motion & the color of the flake: Antiquity, its form & properties. All things wear a luster which is the gift of the present & a tarnish of time.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 5:286
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 5:286
To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty . . . it beholds every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay: "Beauty"
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay: "Beauty"
As I walked in the woods I felt what I often feel that nothing can befall me in life, no calamity, no disgrace (leaving me my eyes) to which Nature will not offer a sweet consolation. Standing on the bare ground with my head bathed by the blithe air, & uplifted into the infinite space, I become happy in my universal relations. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign & accidental. I am the heir of uncontained beauty and power.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks JMN 5:18-19
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks JMN 5:18-19
I thought as I rode in the cold pleasant light of Sunday morning how silent & passive nature offers, every morn, her wealth to man; she is immensely rich, he is welcome to her entire goods, which he speaks no word, only leaves over doors ajar, hall, store room, & cellar. He may do as he will: if he takes her hint & uses her goods, she speaks no word; if he blunders & starves, she says nothing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 5:253
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 5:253
At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay VI, Nature
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay VI, Nature
[Nature:] How cunningly she hides every wrinkle of her inconceivable antiquity under roses, and violets, and morning dew!
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Progress of Cuture - Address Read Before The Phi Beta Kappa Society At Cambridge, July 18, 1867.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Progress of Cuture - Address Read Before The Phi Beta Kappa Society At Cambridge, July 18, 1867.
Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. The lesson one learns in fishing, yachting, hunting, or planting, is the manners of Nature; patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water,—patience with the slowness of our feed, with the parsimony of our strenght, with the largeness of sea and land we must traverse, etc.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay, Farming, in Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Routledge & Sons, London, 1883, p. 239.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essay, Farming, in Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Routledge & Sons, London, 1883, p. 239.
Nature is an endless combination of repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essays, First Series, "History" 1841
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Essays, First Series, "History" 1841
It is very odd that Nature should be so unscrupulous. She is no saint . . .
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841-44, 20 May, 1843, ed Edward Waldo Emerson, p. 405
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841-44, 20 May, 1843, ed Edward Waldo Emerson, p. 405
One's appreciation of nature is never more acuet than when a bit of nature is injected into one's flesh.
Howard Ensign Evans (1919-2002) - The Pleasures of Entomology: Portraits of Insects and the People Who Study them, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1985, p. 221
Howard Ensign Evans (1919-2002) - The Pleasures of Entomology: Portraits of Insects and the People Who Study them, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1985, p. 221
When I consider the multitude of associated forces which are diffused through nature — when I think of that calm balancing of their energies which enables those most powerful in themselves, most destructive to the world's creatures and economy, to dwell associated together and be made subservient to the wants of creation, I rise from the contemplation more than ever impressed with the wisdom, the beneficence, and grandeur, beyond our language to express, of the Great Disposer of us all.
Michael Faraday - quoted in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) p. 428
Michael Faraday - quoted in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) p. 428
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - The Character of Physical Law (1965)
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - The Character of Physical Law (1965)
To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty of nature . . . . If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - The Character of Physical Law (1965) Ch. 2.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - The Character of Physical Law (1965) Ch. 2.
But see that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) - The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, 1998.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) - The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, 1998.
It turns out that all life is interconnected with all other life.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) - The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, 1998.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) - The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, 1998.
All nature wears one universal grin.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754) - Tom Thumb the Great, Act I, sc. i, (1730)
Henry Fielding (1707-1754) - Tom Thumb the Great, Act I, sc. i, (1730)
The fact of progress is written plain and large on the page of history; but progress is not a law of nature.
H.A.L. Fisher (1865-1940) - A History of Europe, Preface (p.v), Edward Arnold Publishers LTD, London, England, 1936
H.A.L. Fisher (1865-1940) - A History of Europe, Preface (p.v), Edward Arnold Publishers LTD, London, England, 1936
One of the elementary rules of nature is that, in the absence of a law prohibiting an event or phenomenon, it is bound to occur with some degree of probability. To put it simply and crudely: Anything that can happen does happen.
Kenneth W. Ford (1926- ) - Scientific American, "Magnetic Monopoles," Vol 209, No. 6, December 1963, p. 122.
Kenneth W. Ford (1926- ) - Scientific American, "Magnetic Monopoles," Vol 209, No. 6, December 1963, p. 122.
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
Ann Frank (1929-1945) - The Diary (12 June 1942 - 1 August 1944)
Ann Frank (1929-1945) - The Diary (12 June 1942 - 1 August 1944)
Nature provides exceptions to every rule.
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) -"The Great Lawsuit: Man vs Men, Woman vs Women," The Dial, IV July 1843, 180.
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) -"The Great Lawsuit: Man vs Men, Woman vs Women," The Dial, IV July 1843, 180.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) -
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) -
Nature . . . is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, nor cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operations are understandable to men.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Essay in response to the Grand Duchess Christina, Quoted in Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History, ed Rodgers, 1988.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Essay in response to the Grand Duchess Christina, Quoted in Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History, ed Rodgers, 1988.
More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
John William Gardner (1912–2002) -JOHN W. GARDNER, No Easy Victories, ed. Helen Rowan, p. 57 (1968).
John William Gardner (1912–2002) -JOHN W. GARDNER, No Easy Victories, ed. Helen Rowan, p. 57 (1968).
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet, On Clothes
The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.
Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) - The Enchanted, Act 1, (1933)
Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) - The Enchanted, Act 1, (1933)
Whatever Nature undertakes, she can only accomplish it in a sequence. She never makes a leap.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Jeremy Naydler (ed.), Goethe On Science: An Anthology of Goethe's Scientific Writings (1996), 60.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Jeremy Naydler (ed.), Goethe On Science: An Anthology of Goethe's Scientific Writings (1996), 60.
Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)- Jeremy Naydler (ed.), Goethe On Science: An Anthology of Goethe's Scientific Writings (1996), 59.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)- Jeremy Naydler (ed.), Goethe On Science: An Anthology of Goethe's Scientific Writings (1996), 59.
Nature does not suffer her veil to be taken from her, and what she does not choose to reveal to the spirit, thou wilt not wrest from her by levers and screws.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 119:29
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 119:29
In Nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it, and over it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 183:24.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 183:24.
Nature! We are enveloped and embraced by her, incapable of emerging from her and incapable of entering her more deeply. Unbidden and unwarned, she receives us into the circuits of her dance, drifting onward with us herself, until we grow tired and drop from her arms.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - (Schriften zur Natur- und Wissenschaftslehre, "Fragment über die Natur;" GA 16: 921-922)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - (Schriften zur Natur- und Wissenschaftslehre, "Fragment über die Natur;" GA 16: 921-922)
But there is no trifling with nature; it is always true, grave, and severe; it is always in the right, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Goethe's opinions on the world, mankind, literature, science, and art, Tr. Otto Wenckstern, 1853, p 63.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Goethe's opinions on the world, mankind, literature, science, and art, Tr. Otto Wenckstern, 1853, p 63.
Nature is the living, visible garment of God.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Faust
Nature goes her own way, and all that seems an exception is really according to order.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - in Johann Peter Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, Thursday, December 9, 1824, (p. 75), J.M Dent & Sons, England, 1970
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - in Johann Peter Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, Thursday, December 9, 1824, (p. 75), J.M Dent & Sons, England, 1970
Assuredly there is no more lovely worship of God than that for which no image is required, but which springs up in our breast spontaneously when nature speaks to the soul, and the soul speaks to nature face to face.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - The Wisdom of Goethe, ed Blackie, 1883, p187
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - The Wisdom of Goethe, ed Blackie, 1883, p187
Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse to all inaction.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Die Aphorismen uber Naturwissenschaft - Werke, bd. L., section 4.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) - Die Aphorismen uber Naturwissenschaft - Werke, bd. L., section 4.
Nature! We live in her midst and know her not. She is incessantly speaking to us, but betrays not her secret. We constantly act upon her, and yet have no power over her. Variant: NATURE! We are surrounded and embraced by her: powerless to separate ourselves from her, and powerless to penetrate beyond her.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -"Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe," Nature, Vol. 1, Thursday, November 4, 1869, tr Thomas Huxley, p. 9.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -"Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe," Nature, Vol. 1, Thursday, November 4, 1869, tr Thomas Huxley, p. 9.
The spectacle of Nature is always new, for she is always renewing the spectators. Life is her most exquisite invention; and death is her expert contrivance to get plenty of life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -"Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe," Nature, Vol. 1, Thursday, November 4, 1869, tr Thomas Huxley, p. 9.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -"Nature: Aphorisms by Goethe," Nature, Vol. 1, Thursday, November 4, 1869, tr Thomas Huxley, p. 9.
As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged on the shingly beach of a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.
Stephen Graham - The Gentle art of Tramping (1926).
Stephen Graham - The Gentle art of Tramping (1926).
Nature! We are surrounded and embraced by her - powerless to leave her and powerless to enter her more deeply. Unmasked and without warning she sweeps us away in the round of her dance and dances on until we fall exhausted in her arms. She brings forth ever-new forms: what is there, never was; what was, never will return. All is new and forever old. We live within her, and are strangers to her. She speaks perpetually with us, and does not betray her secret. We work on her constantly, and yet have no power over her.
George Christoph Tobler - written after conversations with Johann Wolfgang Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) also attributed to Goethe. Included in Goethe's Tiefurt Journal in 1783 as an accurate reflection of his thinking at the time. The full text can be found here.
George Christoph Tobler - written after conversations with Johann Wolfgang Goethe (28 August 1749-22 March 1832) also attributed to Goethe. Included in Goethe's Tiefurt Journal in 1783 as an accurate reflection of his thinking at the time. The full text can be found here.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
Greek Proverb
Greek Proverb
Sometimes nature guards her secrets with the unbreakable grip of physical law. Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon.
Brrian Greene (1963 - ) - NYT Op Ed, "Darkness on the Edge of the Universe, January 15, 2011
Brrian Greene (1963 - ) - NYT Op Ed, "Darkness on the Edge of the Universe, January 15, 2011
For all Nature is as one Great Engine, made by, and held in His Hand.
Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) - The Anatomy of Plants With an Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants and Several Other Lectures Read Before the Royal Society, 1682, p. 80.
Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712) - The Anatomy of Plants With an Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants and Several Other Lectures Read Before the Royal Society, 1682, p. 80.
In the spangled sky, the rainbow, the woodland hung with diamonds, the sward sown with pearly dew, the rosy dawn, the golden clouds of even, the purple mountains, the hoary rock, the blue boundless main, Nature's simplest flower, or some fair form of laughing child or lovely maiden, we cannot see the beautiful without admiring it.
Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873) - The Way to Life, E.B.Treat & company (1891)
Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873) - The Way to Life, E.B.Treat & company (1891)
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