“Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.”

— John Muir

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it." by John Muir?

John Muir 183

Scottish-born American naturalist and author 1838–1914

Related quotes

“You should watch the wise bee and do as it does. It dwells in unity, in the congregation of its fellows, and goes forth, not in the storm, but in calm and still weather, in the sunshine, towards all those flowers in which sweetness may be found.”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

The Spiritual Espousals (c. 1340)
Context: You should watch the wise bee and do as it does. It dwells in unity, in the congregation of its fellows, and goes forth, not in the storm, but in calm and still weather, in the sunshine, towards all those flowers in which sweetness may be found. It does not rest on any flower, neither on any beauty nor on any sweetness; but it draws from them honey and wax, that is to say, sweetness and light-giving matter, and brings both to the unity of the hive, that therewith it may produce fruits, and be greatly profitable. Christ, the Eternal Sun, shining into the open heart, causes that heart to grow and to bloom, and it overflows with all the inward powers with joy and sweetness. So the wise man will do like the bee, and he will fly forth with attention and with reason and with discretion, towards all those gifts and towards all that sweetness which he has ever experienced, and towards all the good which God has ever done to him. And in the light of love and with inward observation, he will taste of the multitude of consolations and good things; and will not rest upon any flower of the gifts of God, but, laden with gratitude and praise, will fly back into the unity, wherein he wishes to rest and to dwell eternally with God.

“Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhiji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying.”

Baba Amte (1914–2008) Indian freedom fighter, social worker

On Community living
Baba Amte's Words of Wisdom

“…an intellectual instinct which extracts the essence from the phenomena of life, as a bee sucks honey from a flower. In addition to study and reflections, life itself serves as a source.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

On War (1832), Book 2

“I go to books and to nature as the bee goes to a flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Source: The Summit of the Years

“The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes.”

Mark Nepo (1951) American writer

“I was with this guy who was a plasterer, and at lunchtime he was eating a stuffed heart… I was thinking, "I'm not like these guys. I'm an artist." And I saw a bee come over to some flowers and get all the pollen out. I was looking and thinking, "How does it do that?" And then the guy who was eating the stuffed heart said, "How does that bee do that?"”

Damien Hirst (1965) artist

Beckett, Andy. "Arts: A Strange Case" http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19951112/ai_n14017521/pg_5?tag=artBody;col1, The Independent, 12 November 1995
Talking about when he worked as a builder after college