Life is the childhood of our immortality.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition
—Unknown
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
—Richard Feynman (1918–88) American Physicist
Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
—Samuel Butler
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking of a tightrope.
—Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French Painter, Sculptor, Lithographer
Ride the tributaries to reach the sea.
—Arabic Proverb
Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes him necessary to society.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nature has perfections, in order to show that she is the image of God; and defects, to show that she is only his image.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
There are only three pleasures in life pure and lasting, and all derived from inanimate things-books, pictures and the face of nature.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
I follow nature as the surest guide, and resign myself, with implicit obedience, to her sacred ordinances.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
All nature is a vast symbolism; every material fact has sheathed within it a spiritual truth.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
The law cannot equalize mankind in spite of nature.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
There is no mistake in nature.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel
—Ivan Turgenev (1818–83) Russian Novelist, Playwright
I have lived long enough to satisfy both nature and glory.
—Julius Caesar (c.100–44BCE) Roman Statesman, Military General
Nature in America has always been suspect, on the defensive, cannibalized by progress. In America, every specimen becomes a relic.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Creative minds have already embraced the symbolic nature of success and failure…failure, they say, is a “step on the road to success.”..
—Unknown
To cultivate a garden is to walk with God.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
A man is related to all nature.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Death is a shadow that always follows the body.
—English Proverb
Touching the earth equates to having harmony with nature.
—American Indian Proverb
There can be no very black misery to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Farm: What a city man dreams of at 5 p.m., never at 5 a.m.
—Anonymous
Nature never deserts the wise and pure; no plot so narrow, be but nature there; no waste so vacant, but may well employ each faculty of sense, and keep the heart awake to love and beauty!
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
When ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive energy, full of expression, passion, and strength.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
What profusion is there in His work! When trees blossom there is not a single breastpin, but a whole bosom-full of gems; and of leaves they have so many suits that they can throw them away to the winds all summer long. What unnumbered cathedrals has He reared in the forest shades, vast and grand, full of curious carvings, and haunted evermore by tremulous music; and in the heavens above, how do stars seem to have flown out of His hand faster than sparks out of a mighty forge!
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer