quotations about nature
Nature is a temple where living pillars
Sometimes emit confused words;
There man passes through the forests of symbols
Which observe him with familiar looks.
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE
Correspondences
Nature, with equal mind,
Sees all her sons at play,
Sees man control the wind,
The wind sweep man away.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Empedocles on Etna
Nature is purposeless. Nature simply is. We may find nature beautiful or terrible, but those feelings are human constructions. Such utter and complete mindlessness is hard for us to accept. We feel such a strong connection to nature. But the relationship between nature and us is one-sided. There is no reciprocity. There is no mind on the other side of the wall.
ALAN LIGHTMAN
"Our Lonely Home in Nature", The New York Times, May 2, 2014
Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire.
ROBERT BURNS
First Epistle to John Lapraik
Nature has no compassion. Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
ERIC HOFFER
Reflections on the Human Condition
A wise old mother is Nature--
She guideth her children's feet
In many a flowery pathway;
And her strong life-currents beat,
Sometimes in intricate channels--
As a mountain stream may run--
But ever her purpose triumphs,
And ever the goal is won.
Her eyes are the eyes of Argus,
And she utters her decree:
The brook shall come to the river,
And the river shall reach the sea.
ANDREW DOWNING
"Destiny"
The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG
"Notebook H", Aphorisms
Nature does at least what she can to translate into visible form the wealth of the creative formula. By the vastness of the abysses into which she penetrates, in the effort--the unsuccessful effort--to house and contain the eternal thought, we may measure the greatness of the divine mind.
HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL
Journal Intime
We should like Nature to go no further; we should like it to be finite, like our mind; but this is to ignore the greatness and majesty of the Author of things.
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ
letter to Samuel Clarke, 1715
I do not believe that the laws of nature have ever been violated, for this would be to believe that God who dwells in nature and animates it has violated the laws of his own being.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Letters to Unknown Friends
We know great Nature's pow'r,
Mother of things, whose vast unbounded sway
From the deep centre all around extends
Wide to the flaming barriers of the world.
We feel her power; we strive not to repress
(Vainly repress'd, or to deformity)
Her lawful growth: ours be the task alone
To check her rude excrescencies, to prune
Her wanton overgrowth, and where she strays
In uncouth shapes, to lead her gently back,
With prudent hand, to form and better use.
JOHN ARMSTRONG
"The Oeconomy Of Love"
There are things you can only say
with a canyon. Or smoke
moving across a vally toward the mist.
CHRIS ABANI
Sanctificum
Nature has no remorse.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
To every one [Nature] appears in a form of his own. She hides herself in a thousand names and terms, and is always the same.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature -- were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Table-Talk
The heart of Nature soothes the heart of man,
If with his heart he looks into her eyes.
A place of leaves, wide air, and sunny skies,
Will soothe him more than even woman can.
WILLIAM WILSEY MARTIN
"Nature"
The course of Nature is the art of God.
EDWARD YOUNG
Night Thoughts
In the book of Nature, the Divine Teacher speaks.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs--
To the silent wilderness
Where the soul need not repress
Its music lest it should not find
An echo in another's mind.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
"To Jane: The Invitation"
Nature is the ultimate design. All the colors, textures, shapes, and inspiration are waiting for us to discover. I can think of no greater joy than this journey of discovery.
MARY MCCULLAH
"Aiken exhibit spotlights wildlife, nature", Aiken Standard, August 14, 2017