“Sweet is the lore which nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things;
—We murder to dissect.”

—  William Wordsworth , book Lyrical Ballads

Source: Lyrical Ballads

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Sweet is the lore which nature brings; Our meddling intellect Misshapes the beauteous forms of things; —We murder to di…" by William Wordsworth?
William Wordsworth photo
William Wordsworth 306
English Romantic poet 1770–1850

Related quotes

“We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.”

Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941) American linguist

Source: Language, thought and reality (1956), p. 213.

William Jennings Bryan photo

“If we delight in gossip, and are not content unless each neighbor is laid upon the dissecting table, we form a character unenviable indeed, and must be willing to bear the contempt of all the truly good, while we roll our bit of scandal as a sweet morsel under the tongue.”

William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) United States Secretary of State

Address at Illinois College (1881)

J. B. Bury photo

“It is an assumption, which cannot be verified, that we shall not reach a point in our knowledge of nature beyond which the human intellect is unqualified to pass”

J. B. Bury (1861–1927) Irish historian and freethinker

Introduction<!-- pp. 3-4 -->
The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin and Growth (1921)
Context: Science has been advancing without interruption during the last three of four hundred years; every new discovery has led to new problems and new methods of solution, and opened up new fields for exploration. Hitherto men of science have not been compelled to halt, they have always found ways to advance further. But what assurance have we that they will not come up against impassable barriers?... Take biology or astronomy. How can we be sure that some day progress may not come to a dead pause, not because knowledge is exhausted, but because our resources for investigation are exhausted... It is an assumption, which cannot be verified, that we shall not reach a point in our knowledge of nature beyond which the human intellect is unqualified to pass.

William Winwood Reade photo

“If we look into ourselves we discover propensities which declare that our intellects have arisen from a lower form; could our minds be made visible we should find them tailed.”

William Winwood Reade (1838–1875) British historian

Source: The Martyrdom of Man (1872), Chapter III, "Liberty", p. 314.

“This, therefore, is mathematics: she reminds you of the invisible form of the soul; she gives life to her own discoveries; she awakens the mind and purifies the intellect; she brings light to our intrinsic ideas; she abolishes oblivion and ignorance which are ours by birth.”

Proclus (412–485) Greek philosopher

As quoted by Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (1972)

John Calvin photo

“It is no small honour that God for our sake has so magnificently adorned the world, in order that we may not only be spectators of this beauteous theatre, but also enjoy the multiplied abundance and variety of good things which are presented to us in it.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

Works (1844) edited by the Calvin translation society, as quoted in Reformed Spirituality: An Introduction for Believers (1991) by Howard L. Rice, p. 59.

George William Russell photo

“Oh, what is worth this lore of age
If time shall never bring us back
Our battle with the gods to wage
Reeling along the starry track.
The battle rapture here goes by
In warring upon things that die.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter

By Still Waters (1906)

Max Beckmann photo

“Learn by heart the forms to be found in nature, so that you can use them like the notes in a musical composition. That is what these forms are for. Nature is a marvelous chaos, and it is our job and our duty to bring order into that chaos and – to perfect it.”

Max Beckmann (1884–1950) German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer

Beckmann's lecture 'Drei Briefe an eine Malerin' ('Three letters to a Woman-painter'), New York and Boston, Spring 1948; as cited in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock, Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 214
1940s

“Aboriginal lore is vast and it is inclusive. Bitterness comes from loss of culture and loss of lore. And we have lost those things to some degree. But if you actually understand the old culture then you understand that we are all in it together.”

Melissa Lucashenko (1967) Australian writer

On aboriginal lore in “The interview: Melissa Lucashenko” https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-interview-melissa-lucashenko-20130306-2flr6.html in The Sydney Morning Herald (2013 Mar 9)

Maurice Denis photo

“Art is no longer a purely visual experience.... it is a work of our intellect triggered by nature.... the imagination again become the queen of our strengths and we liberate our sensitivity.”

Maurice Denis (1870–1943) French painter

Nouvelles théories sur l'art moderne..., 1922

Related topics