Quotes about nature and animals

Related topics

“So you know cats are interesting. They are kind of like girls. If they come and talk to you it's great. But if you try to talk to them it doesn't always go so well.”

Shigeru Miyamoto (1952) Japanese video game designer and producer

Source http://kotaku.com/5564576/live-from-nintendos-e3-briefing

“What is the body? That shadow of a shadow
of your love, that somehow contains
the entire universe.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

"Where are we?" in Ch. 2 : Bewilderment
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)

“The sound of water says what I think.”

Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher

“They sang the praises of nature, of the sea, of the woods.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

Source: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), IV
Context: They sang the praises of nature, of the sea, of the woods. They liked making songs about one another, and praised each other like children; they were the simplest songs, but they sprang from their hearts and went to one's heart. And not only in their songs but in all their lives they seemed to do nothing but admire one another. It was like being in love with each other, but an all-embracing, universal feeling.

“I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

“The child tells what he got for Christmas, the mature man tells how he spent the day; the immature hunter tells how many birds he shot, the mature gunner tells of the experience. If I can impart a sense of gunning values through my writing, I urge the gunner at any age to lift himself above the childish state of mind, thinking only of himself and not what he is doing to the birds.”

George Bird Evans (1906–1998) American writer

An Affair with Grouse (1982)

“Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.”

Chögyam Trungpa (1939–1987) Tibetan Buddhist lama and writer

“I do not want to go back to God with less knowledge than when I was born. I want my footprints to make an impress on the field of reason. I have no desire to be a cat and walk so lightly that it never creates a disturbance. I want my footprints to be plainly seen by all…”

Andrew Taylor Still (1828–1917) Founder of Osteopathic Medicine

Still. A. T., Journal of Osteopathy, p. 127. https://www.atsu.edu/museum/subscription/pdfs/JournalofOsteopathyVol5No31898August.pdf/.

“Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat.”

Buster Keaton (1895–1966) American actor and filmmaker

Interview in The Detroit News (4 December 1914)
Context: The funny thing about our act is that dad gets the worst of it, although I'm the one who apparently receives the bruises … the secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It's a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don't last long, because they can't stand the treatment.

“The stars are not afraid to appear like fireflies.”

Rabindranath Tagore Stray Birds

Source: Stray Birds

“The accepted theory that the serpent is evil cannot be substantiated. It has long been viewed as the emblem of immortality. It is the symbol of reincarnation, or metempsychosis, because it annually sheds its skin…It was also believed that snakes swallowed themselves, and this resulted in their being considered emblematic of the Supreme Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into Himself.”

Manly P. Hall (1901–1990) Canadian writer and mystic

Source: The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928), Chapter: Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and Birds

“Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen.”

Edward V. Berard

Source: Essays on object-oriented software engineering (1993), p. 46

“What about sunrise, what about rain?
What about all the things that you said we were to gain?
What about flowering fields, is there a time?
What about all the dreams that you said was yours and mine?”

Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer

HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book I (1995)

““But I’m Pharaoh,” Neter-Khet said. “I’m supposed to give orders.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to a cat,” said Jason. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you?
“Nobody tells me,” Neter-Khet said. “I tell them. Besides, they were my cats, weren’t they?”
“In a way they were,” Jason said, “and in a way they weren’t. A cat can belong to you, but you can’t own him. There’s a difference.””

Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) American children's writer

Source: Time Cat (1963), Chapter 3 “Neter-Khet” (p. 20)

“A woman withers when she is watered only with tears.”

Andrzej Majewski (1966) Polish writer and photographer

Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo (2000)

“The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul”

Chrysippus (-281–-208 BC) ancient Greek philosopher

As quoted in De Natura Deorum by Cicero, i. 15.

“We will one day think it as horrible to eat animals as we now think it horrible to eat each other.”

Rose Scott (1847–1925) Australian suffragist

Miscellaneous Notes, Scott Papers; as quoted in A New Australia: Citizenship, Radicalism and the First Republic by Bruce Scates (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 247 https://books.google.it/books?id=zkgeEmlRjEgC&pg=PA247.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

E quando você quer alguma coisa, todo o Universo conspira para que você realize seu desejo.
Variant: And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 22; a variant of this has become attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen" — but no occurrence of this a statement has been located prior to in The Gift of Depression : Twenty-one Inspirational Stories Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope (2001) by John F. Brown, p. 56

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) African-American abolitionist and humanitarian

“because he had no place he could stay in without getting tired of it and because there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars…”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road