
„If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
A collection of quotes on the topic of nature, human, humanity, can.
„If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
„In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.“
— John Muir Scottish-born American naturalist and author 1838 - 1914
"Mormon Lilies", San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin (part 4 of the 4 part series "Notes from Utah") dated July 1877, published 19 July 1877; reprinted in Steep Trails (1918), chapter 9
1870s
„Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.“
— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968
Variant: Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.
„We don’t need natural disasters. We’re building our own.“
— Jiri Lev 1979
Source: The Australian Architects Offering Pro-Bono Design Services to Bushfire Survivors https://hivelife.com/architects-assist/.
„Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.“
— Emily Dickinson, book The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Variant: Art is a house that tries to be haunted.
Source: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
„In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.“
— Aristotle, book Parts of Animals
Book I, 645a.16
Parts of Animals
Original: (el) Ἐν πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἔνεστί τι θαυμαστόν.
„Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.“
— Confucius Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551 - -479 BC
Source: The Book of Rites
„You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.“
— Paul McCartney English singer-songwriter and composer 1942
„Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.“
— Ralph Waldo Emerson American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803 - 1882
„Sex is part of nature. I go along with nature.“
— Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer 1926 - 1962
Variant: Sex is part of nature. I go along with nature.
Total 10566 quotes nature, filter:
— Marek Żukow-Karczewski Polish historian, journalist and opinion journalist 1961
Gardens and orchards in the old Poland, "Aura" 11, 1987-11, p.17-18. http://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/508860
— Robert Baden-Powell lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement 1857 - 1941
— Werner Heisenberg German theoretical physicist 1901 - 1976
“Der erste Trunk aus dem Becher der Naturwissenschaft macht atheistisch, aber auf dem Grund des Bechers wartet Gott.” in 15 Jahrhunderte Würzburg: e. Stadt u. ihre Geschichte [15 centuries Würzburg. A city and its history] (1979), p. 205, by Heinz Otremba. Otremba does not declare his source, and the quote per se cannot be found in Heisenberg's published works.
The journalist Eike Christian Hirsch PhD, a personal acquaintance of Heisenberg, whom he interviewed for his 1981 book Expedition in die Glaubenswelt, claimed in de.wikiquote.org on 22 June 2015, that the content and style of the quote was completely foreign to Heisenberg's convictions and the way he used to express himself, and that Heisenberg's children, Dr. Maria Hirsch and Prof. Dr. Martin Heisenberg, did not recognize their father in this quote.
Statements similar to the quote were made by Francis Bacon, in "Of Atheism" (1601): "A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion", and Alexander Pope, in "An Essay on Criticism" (1709): "A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
There is a passage in a lengthy essay written by Heisenberg in 1942, "Ordnung der Wirklichkeit” ("Reality and Its Order"), published in Collected Works. Section C: Philosophical and Popular Writings. Volume I. Physics and Cognition. 1927-1955 (1984), that parallels the ideas expressed in the quote (albeit in a much expanded form):
"The first thing we could say was simply: 'I believe in God, the Father, the almighty creator of heaven and earth.' The next step — at least for our contemporary consciousness — was doubt. There is no god; there is only an impersonal law that directs the fate of the world according to cause and effect... And yet [today], we may with full confidence place ourselves into the hands of the higher power who, during our lifetime and in the course of the centuries, determines our faith and therewith our world and our fate." (English translation by M.B.Rumscheidt and N. Lukens, available at http://www.heisenbergfamily.org/t-OdW-english.htm)
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, a protégé of Heisenberg, did publish a version of the quote itself in Die Geschichte der Natur (The History of Nature) (1948), appearing to consider it an adage:
"Aus dem Denken gibt es keinen ehrlichen Rückweg in einen naiven Glauben. Nach einem alten Satz trennt uns der erste Schluck aus dem Becher der Erkenntnis von Gott, aber auf dem Grunde des Bechers wartet Gott auf den, der ihn sucht. Wenn es so ist, dann gibt es einen Weg des Denkens, der vorwärts zu religiösen Wahrheiten führt, und nur diesen Weg zu suchen ist lohnend. Wenn es nicht so ist, wird unsere Welt auf die Religion ihre Hoffnungen vergeblich setzen." ("From thinking there is no honest way back into a naive belief. According to an old phrase, the first sip from the cup of knowledge separates us from God, but at the bottom of the cup God is waiting for the one who seeks him. If so, then there is a way of thinking that leads to religious truths, and to seek only that way is rewarding. If it is not so, our world will put its hopes to religion in vain.")
Misattributed
— Jacques-Yves Cousteau French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher 1910 - 1997
— Jordan Peterson Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology 1962
Other
„The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.“
— Claude Monet French impressionist painter 1840 - 1926
„Nature is my manifestation of God.
I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work.“
— Frank Lloyd Wright American architect (1867-1959) 1867 - 1959
— Sadhguru, book Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy
Source: Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy
— Freddie Mercury British singer, songwriter and record producer 1946 - 1991
"I am the Champion" by Nick Ferrari in The Sun (19 July 1985).
— Alexander von Humboldt Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer 1769 - 1859
Equinoctial Regions of America (1814-1829)
„In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life.“
— Vandana Shiva Indian philosopher 1952
Source: Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace
— John Rawls, book A Theory of Justice
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), Chapter II, Section 14, pg. 87-88
Context: Occasionally this reflection is offered as an excuse for ignoring injustice, as if the refusal to acquiesce in injustice is on a par with being unable to accept death. The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.
Context: We may reject the contention that the ordering of institutions is always defective because the distribution of natural talents and the contingencies of social circumstance are unjust, and this injustice must inevitably carry over to human arrangements. Occasionally this reflection is offered as an excuse for ignoring injustice, as if the refusal to acquiesce in injustice is on a par with being unable to accept death. The natural distribution is neither just nor unjust; nor is it unjust that persons are born into society at some particular position. These are simply natural facts. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts. Aristocratic and caste societies are unjust because they make these contingencies the ascriptive basis for belonging to more or less enclosed and privileged social classes. The basic structure of these societies incorporates the arbitrariness found in nature. But there is no necessity for men to resign themselves to these contingencies. The social system is not an unchangeable order beyond human control but a pattern of human action. In justice as fairness men agree to avail themselves of the accidents of nature and social circumstance only when doing so is for the common benefit. The two principles are a fair way of meeting the arbitrariness of fortune; and while no doubt imperfect in other ways, the institutions which satisfy these principles are just.
„I have no need of proof. The laws of nature, unlike the laws of grammar, admit of no exception.“
— Dmitri Mendeleev Russian chemist and inventor 1834 - 1907
An Outline of the System of the Elements
— Mahavatar Babaji Hindu Yogi
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), Ch. 34 : Materializing a Palace in the Himalayas
— Joseph Goebbels Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister 1897 - 1945
“Those Damn Nazis: Why Are We Socialists?” https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm written by Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken, Nazi propaganda pamphlet (Munich: Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932)
/ 1930s
— Claude Monet French impressionist painter 1840 - 1926
in a letter to Frédéric Bazille: as cited by K.E. Sullivan. Monet: Discovering Art, Brockhampton press, London (2004), p. 22
1850 - 1870
— Nikola Tesla Serbian American inventor 1856 - 1943
About the role of J. Pierpont Morgan, and the failure of Tesla's "World System" project
My Inventions (1919)
Context: He had the highest regard for my attainments and gave me every evidence of his complete faith in my ability to ultimately achieve what I had set out to do. I am unwilling to accord to some small−minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a triumphal success.
„Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.“
— Frank Lloyd Wright American architect (1867-1959) 1867 - 1959
As quoted in The Wright Style (1992) by Carla Lind, p. 3
— Werner Heisenberg German theoretical physicist 1901 - 1976
This has also appeared in the alternate form: "What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
Physics and Philosophy (1958)
Variant: What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.
Source: Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science
— Nikola Tesla Serbian American inventor 1856 - 1943
My Inventions (1919)
Context: While I have not lost faith in its potentialities, my views have changed since. War can not be avoided until the physical cause for its recurrence is removed and this, in the last analysis, is the vast extent of the planet on which we live. Only though annihilation of distance in every respect, as the conveyance of intelligence, transport of passengers and supplies and transmission of energy will conditions be brought about some day, insuring permanency of friendly relations. What we now want most is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth and the elimination of that fanatic devotion to exalted ideals of national egoism and pride, which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife. No league or parliamentary act of any kind will ever prevent such a calamity. These are only new devices for putting the weak at the mercy of the strong.
— Marcus Garvey Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, orator, and entrepreneur 1887 - 1940
„… and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
— Fernando Pessoa, book The Book of Disquiet
Repudiei sempre que me compreendessem. Ser compreendido é prostituir-se. Prefiro ser tomado a sério como o que não sou, ignorado humanamente, com decência e naturalidade.
Source: The Book of Disquietude, trans. Richard Zenith, text 128
— Thomas Sankara President of Upper Volta 1949 - 1987
Source: Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle
— Max Planck German theoretical physicist 1858 - 1947
Variants:
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature, for in the final analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.
Source: Where is Science Going? (1932)
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Hungarian American psychologist 1934
Source: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
— Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, book Isis Unveiled
Eliphas Levi
Source: Isis Unveiled (1877), Volume I, Chapter XIII
— Meryl Streep American actress 1949
Misattributed to Meryl Streep (and widely disseminated on the Internet as of August/September 2014), this quote is allegedly a translation of a text by the author José Micard Teixeira, the original of which begins (in Portuguese): "Já não tenho paciência para algumas coisas, não porque me tenha tornado arrogante..."
Misattributed
„If the artist has outer and inner eyes for nature, nature rewards him by giving him inspiration.“
— Wassily Kandinsky Russian painter 1866 - 1944
Source: 1916 -1920, Autobiography', 1918, p. 14
„In us there is the Light of Nature, and that Light is God.“
— Paracelsus Swiss physician and alchemist 1493 - 1541
Paracelsus - Doctor of our Time (1992)
— Edward Jenner English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination 1749 - 1823
The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. Vol. 2 (1838) by John Baron, p. 447
— Hans-Hermann Hoppe, book Democracy: The God That Failed
Source: Democracy: The God That Failed (2001), P.173
— Max Planck German theoretical physicist 1858 - 1947
Where is science going? The Universe in the light of modern physics. (1932)
— Anton LaVey, book The Satanic Bible
The Satanic Bible (1969)
— Stephen Hawking British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author 1942 - 2018
Official Trailer
Hawking (2013)
„Mutation is random; natural selection is the very opposite of random.“
— Richard Dawkins, book The Blind Watchmaker
Source: The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapter 2 “Good Design” (p. 41)
„The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.“
— Euclid Greek mathematician, inventor of axiomatic geometry -323 - -285 BC
The earliest published source found on google books that attributes this to Euclid is A Mathematical Journey by Stanley Gudder (1994), p. xv http://books.google.com/books?id=UiOxd2-lfGsC&q=%22mathematical+thoughts%22+euclid#search_anchor. However, many earlier works attribute it to Johannes Kepler, the earliest located being in the piece "The Mathematics of Elementary Chemistry" by Principal J. McIntosh of Fowler Union High School in California, which appeared in School Science and Mathematics, Volume VII ( 1907 http://books.google.com/books?id=kAEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false), p. 383 http://books.google.com/books?id=kAEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA383#v=onepage&q&f=false. Neither this nor any other source located gives a source in Kepler's writings, however, and in an earlier source, the 1888 Notes and Queries, Vol V., it is attributed on p. 165 http://books.google.com/books?id=0qYXAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false to Plato. It could possibly be a paraphrase of either or both of the following to comments in Kepler's 1618 book Harmonices Mundi (The Harmony of the World)': "Geometry is one and eternal shining in the mind of God" and "Since geometry is co-eternal with the divine mind before the birth of things, God himself served as his own model in creating the world".
Misattributed
— Alexis Karpouzos 1967
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/14108295.alexis_karpouzos?page=2
— Hamis Kiggundu Ugandan business magnate, Internet entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author 1984
Quoted from his first book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Success_and_Failure_Based_on_Reason_and_Reality, "Success and Failure Based on Reason and Reality" https://www.amazon.co.uk/SUCCESS-FAILURE-BASED-REASON-REALITY/dp/9970983903/ on Amazon, P.36 (July 2018)
— Vladimir Lenin, book The State and Revolution
§ 3.4, Essential Works of Lenin (1966), pp. 307-308
Source: The State and Revolution (1917)
„Nature is cruel but we don't have to be“
— Temple Grandin USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist 1947
Variant: Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be.
Source: The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's
„All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.“
— Marie Curie French-Polish physicist and chemist 1867 - 1934
Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 162
— Jimmy Carter American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981) 1924
Page 28
Post-Presidency, Our Endangered Values (2005)
Source: Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis
„Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant;
the only harmless great thing.“
— John Donne English poet 1572 - 1631
— Carlos Castaneda Peruvian-American author 1925 - 1998
„As in everything, nature is the best instructor.“
— Adolf Hitler Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party 1889 - 1945
„Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.“
— Louisa May Alcott, A Long Fatal Love Chase
Source: A Long Fatal Love Chase
„Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy.“
— Aristotle Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy -384 - -321 BC
— Paramahansa Yogananda Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship 1893 - 1952
Source: Autobiography of a Yogi:
— U.G. Krishnamurti, book Mind is a Myth
Source: Mind is a Myth (1987), Ch. 4: There Is Nothing To Understand
Context: If you are freed from the goal of the "perfect","godly", "truly religious" then that which is natural in man begins to express itself. Your religious and secular culture has placed before you the ideal man or woman, the perfect human being, and then tries to fit everybody into that mold. It is impossible. Nature does not exist at all. Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.
„Your true passion should feel like breathing; it’s that natural.“
— Oprah Winfrey American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist 1954
— Stephen Hawking British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author 1942 - 2018
Speech at Macworld Expo in Boston, as quoted in The Daily News (4 August 1994) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bD8PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IoYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4837%2C5338590. A nearly identical quote can be found at the end of the second paragraph of his lecture Life in the Universe http://hawking.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65 (1996).
„Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.“
— William Wordsworth, book Lyrical Ballads
The Tables Turned, st. 4 (1798).
Lyrical Ballads (1798–1800)
— Henry Beston American writer 1888 - 1968
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
— Michael Parenti American academic 1933
2 MEDIA AND CULTURE, Yeltsin's Coup And The Medias Alchemy, p. 140
Dirty truths (1996), first edition
— Frederick Herzberg American psychologist 1923 - 2000
Source: The motivation to work, 1959, p. 32
— Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Saint, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) 1491 - 1556
No. 325.
Spiritual Exercises (1548)
— Hans Christian Ørsted Danish physicist and chemist 1777 - 1851
Relating his discovery of the magnetic effect of an electric current, in "Experiments on the Effect of a Current of Electricity on the Magnetic Needle", Annals of Philosophy 1820, vol. 16, pp. 273-277.