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122 quotes that mention nature in so many words. Each one is checked against the book it comes from.
That government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Nature, red in tooth and claw
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will
God Almighty first planted a garden.
This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that GOD IS DEAD!
One must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
There is no new thing under the sun.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin
Neither the sun nor death can be looked at without winking.
Nature makes merit but fortune sets it to work.
As rivers are lost in the sea so are virtues in self.
The degree and nature of a man’s sensuality extends to the highest altitudes of his spirit.
A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at six or seven great men.—Yes, and then to get round them.
Dirt glitters as long as the sun shines.
A leaf blown by the wind often looks like a bird.
The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.
Consider well the proportions of things. It is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise.
The English are mentioned in the Bible: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Nature makes the locust with an appetite for crops; man would have made him with an appetite for sand.
The Autocrat of Russia possesses more power than any other man in the earth; but he cannot stop a sneeze.
Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
A really well-made buttonhole is the only link between Art and Nature.
It is only the superficial qualities that last. Man’s deeper nature is soon found out.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
He whose face gives no light shall never become a star.
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of Eternity too great for the eye of man.
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse how he shall take his prey.
To create a little flower is the labour of ages.
As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.
Where man is not, nature is barren.
ACCIDENT, n. An inevitable occurrence due to the action of immutable natural laws.
AGITATOR, n. A statesman who shakes the fruit trees of his neighbors—to dislodge the worms.
AUSTRALIA, n. A country lying in the South Sea, whose industrial and commercial development has been unspeakably retarded by an unfortunate dispute among geographers as to whether it is a continent or an island.
BOTANY, n. The science of vegetables—those that are not good to eat, as well as those that are. It deals largely with their flowers, which are commonly badly designed, inartistic in color, and ill-smelling.
CABBAGE, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head.
CANNIBAL, n. A gastronome of the old school who preserves the simple tastes and adheres to the natural diet of the pre-pork period.
CAT, n. A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle.
ELYSIUM, n. An imaginary delightful country which the ancients foolishly believed to be inhabited by the spirits of the good. This ridiculous and mischievous fable was swept off the face of the earth by the early Christians—may their souls be happy in Heaven!
GENEROUS, adj. Originally this word meant noble by birth and was rightly applied to a great multitude of persons. It now means noble by nature and is taking a bit of a rest.
HOVEL, n. The fruit of a flower called the Palace.
MAGPIE, n. A bird whose thievish disposition suggested to someone that it might be taught to talk.
MEANDER, n. To proceed sinuously and aimlessly. The word is the ancient name of a river about one hundred and fifty miles south of Troy, which turned and twisted in the effort to get out of hearing when the Greeks and Trojans boasted of their prowess.
MIRACLE, n. An act or event out of the order of nature and unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with four aces and a king.
MONKEY, n. An arboreal animal which makes itself at home in genealogical trees.
NOBLEMAN, n. Nature’s provision for wealthy American minds ambitious to incur social distinction and suffer high life.
PHOENIX, n. The classical prototype of the modern “small hot bird.”
PHOTOGRAPH, n. A picture painted by the sun without instruction in art. It is a little better than the work of an Apache, but not quite so good as that of a Cheyenne.
REALISM, n. The art of depicting nature as it is seen by toads. The charm suffusing a landscape painted by a mole, or a story written by a measuring-worm.
RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
RESPONSIBILITY, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one’s neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.
RETALIATION, n. The natural rock upon which is reared the Temple of Law.
RITUALISM, n. A Dutch Garden of God where He may walk in rectilinear freedom, keeping off the grass.
ROSTRUM, n. In Latin, the beak of a bird or the prow of a ship. In America, a place from which a candidate for office energetically expounds the wisdom, virtue and power of the rabble.
TURKEY, n. A large bird whose flesh when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. Incidentally, it is pretty good eating.
UNDERSTANDING, n. A cerebral secretion that enables one having it to know a house from a horse by the roof on the house. Its nature and laws have been exhaustively expounded by Locke, who rode a house, and Kant, who lived in a horse.
WHEAT, n. A cereal from which a tolerably good whisky can with some difficulty be made, and which is used also for bread. The French are said to eat more bread per capita of population than any other people, which is natural, for only they know how to make the stuff palatable.
The passions are the only advocates which always persuade. They are a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.
It would seem that nature, which has so wisely ordered the organs of our body for our happiness, has also given us pride to spare us the mortification of knowing our imperfections.
Whatever great advantages nature may give, it is not she alone, but fortune also that makes the hero.
It would seem that our actions have lucky or unlucky stars to which they owe a great part of the blame or praise which is given them.
It seems that nature has at man’s birth fixed the bounds of his virtues and vices.
Nothing is so infectious as example, and we never do great good or evil without producing the like. We imitate good actions by emulation, and bad ones by the evil of our nature, which shame imprisons until example liberates.
The beauty of novelty is to love as the flower to the fruit; it lends a lustre which is easily lost, but which never returns.
Natural goodness, which boasts of being so apparent, is often smothered by the least interest.
There are virtues which degenerate into vices when they arise from Nature, and others which when acquired are never perfect. For example, reason must teach us to manage our estate and our confidence, while Nature should have given us goodness and valour.
Most young people think they are natural when they are only boorish and rude.
It appears that nature has hid at the bottom of our hearts talents and abilities unknown to us. It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do.
Fancy does not enable us to invent so many different contradictions as there are by nature in every heart.
Nothing is rarer than true good nature, those who think they have it are generally only pliant or weak.
It appears that men do not find they have enough faults, as they increase the number by certain peculiar qualities that they affect to assume, and which they cultivate with so great assiduity that at length they become natural faults, which they can no longer correct.
A little wit with good sense bores less in the long run than much wit with ill nature.
The sage as ASTRONOMER.—So long as thou feelest the stars as an “above thee,” thou lackest the eye of the discerning one.
It is terrible to die of thirst at sea. Is it necessary that you should so salt your truth that it will no longer—quench thirst?
“Where there is the tree of knowledge, there is always Paradise”: so say the most ancient and the most modern serpents.
In the works of mankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive which is chiefly worth attention.
But how is a young man to come of himself to see blame in things which every one is busy with, which every one approves and promotes? Why should he not follow his natural bent and go in the same direction as they?
In the formation of species Nature gets, as it were, into a cul-de-sac; she cannot make her way through, and is disinclined to turn back. Hence the stubbornness of national character.
Every one has something in his nature which, if he were to express it openly, would of necessity give offence.
Nature asks that a man should sometimes be stupefied without going to sleep; hence the pleasure in the smoking of tobacco, the drinking of brandy, the use of opiates.
It is with you as with the sea: the most varied names are given to what is in the end only salt water.
In art and knowledge, as also in deed and action, everything depends on a pure apprehension of the object and a treatment of it according to its nature.
I pity those who make much ado about the transitory nature of all things and are lost in the contemplation of earthly vanity: are we not here to make the transitory permanent? This we can do only if we know how to value both.
Mankind is like the Red Sea: the staff has scarcely parted the waves asunder, before they flow together again.
That some men think they can still do what they have been able to do, is natural enough; that others think they can do what they have never been able to do, is singular, but not rare.
Everything of an abstract or symbolic nature, as soon as it is challenged by realities, ends by consuming them and itself. So credit consumes both money and itself.
In the matter of knowledge, it has happened to me as to one who rises early, and in the dark impatiently awaits the dawn, and then the sun; but is blinded when it appears.
With any specially childish nature the reaction is even passionate, while its action is energetic.
How can the character, the peculiar nature of a man, be compatible with good manners?
It is through his good manners that a man’s peculiar nature should be made all the more conspicuous. Every one likes distinction, but it should not be disagreeable.
The most privileged position, in life as in society, is that of an educated soldier. Rough warriors, at any rate, remain true to their character, and as great strength is usually the cover for good nature, we get on with them at need.
To communicate oneself is Nature; to receive a communication as it is given is Culture.
It is failings that show human nature, and merits that distinguish the individual; faults and misfortunes we all have in common; virtues belong to each one separately.
The general nature of the sceptical mind is its tendency to inquire whether any particular predicate really attaches to any particular object; and the purpose of the inquiry is safely to apply in practice what has thus been discovered and proved.
The mind endowed with active powers and keeping with a practical object to the task that lies nearest, is the worthiest there is on earth.
Credo Deum! That is a fine, a worthy thing to say; but to recognise God where and as he reveals himself, is the only true bliss on earth.
Faith, Love, and Hope once felt, in a quiet sociable hour, a plastic impulse in their nature; they worked together and created a lovely image, a Pandora in the higher sense, Patience.
I stumbled over the roots of the tree which I planted.’ It must have been an old forester who said that.
And yet, with all the fragmentary nature of literature, we find thousand fold repetition; which shows how limited is man’s mind and destiny.
The so-called Nature-poets are men of active talent, with a fresh stimulus and reaction from an over-cultured, stagnant, mannered epoch of art. They cannot avoid commonplace.
But every one is an eclectic who, out of the things that surround and take place about him, appropriates what is suited to his nature; and this is what is meant by culture and progress, in matters of theory or practice.
In Sakontala the poet appears in his highest function. As the representative of the most natural condition of things, the finest mode of life, the purest moral endeavour, the worthiest majesty, and the most solemn worship, he ventures on common and ridiculous contrasts.
The peculiar value of so-called popular ballads is that their motives are drawn direct from nature. This, however, is an advantage of which the poet of culture could also avail himself, if he knew how to do it.
The Beautiful is a manifestation of secret laws of nature, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed.
It is said: Artist, study nature! But it is no trifle to develop the noble out of the commonplace, or beauty out of uniformity.
When Nature begins to reveal her open secret to a man, he feels an irresistible longing for her worthiest interpreter, Art.
Let us be many-sided! Turnips are good, but they are best mixed with chestnuts. And these two noble products of the earth grow far apart.
In every kind of Art there is a degree of excellence which may be reached, so to speak, by the mere use of one’s own natural talents. But at the same time it is impossible to go beyond that point, unless Art comes to one’s aid.
In the presence of Nature even moderate talent is always possessed of insight; hence drawings from Nature that are at all carefully done always give pleasure.
If an artist grasps Nature aright and contrives to give its form a nobler, freer grace, no one will understand the source of his inspiration, and every one will swear that he has taken it from the antique.