Nature quotes

Nature

3.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

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Nature quotes (page 43 of 183)

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William Butler Yeats Poet, Playwright
Nature

"Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enameling To keep a drowsy Emperor awake; Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come."

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Nature

". . .this prayer I make, Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 't is her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy: for she can so inform The mind that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life, Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold Is full of blessings."

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T. S. Eliot Poet, Playwright
Nature

"It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both."

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Rachel Carson Biologist, Conservationist, Author
Nature

"Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world."

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Rachel Carson Biologist, Conservationist, Author
Nature

"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."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Nature

"Respect the child. Wait and see the new product of Nature. Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions. Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Nature

"In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. In the woods, is perpetual youth."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Nature

"Nature is a language and every new fact one learns is a new word; but it is not a language taken to pieces and dead in the dictionary, but the language put together into a most significant and universal sense. I wish to learn this language - not that I may know a new grammar, but that I may read the great book which is written in that tongue."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Nature

"By fate, not option, frugal Nature gave One scent to hyson and to wall-flower, One sound to pine-groves and to water-falls, One aspect to the desert and the lake. It was her stern necessity : all things Are of one pattern made; bird, beast, and flower, Song, picture, form, space, thought, and character Deceive us, seeming to be many things, And are but one."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Essayist, Philosopher, Poet
Nature

"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."

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Simone Weil Philosopher, Activist
Nature

"It is only from the light which streams constantly from heaven that a tree can derive the energy to strike its roots deep into the soil. The tree is in fact rooted in the sky."

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Robert A. Heinlein Science Fiction Author
Nature

"Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage."

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