Nature

Explore 62 quotes about Nature

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.

William Blake

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Topic

Trees Nature Relativism

Author

William Blake

Source

Letters of William Blake

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1799 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Blake, William. "To Rev. Dr. Tussler." 23 Aug. 1799.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "[To] Revd Dr Tusler, 23 Aug. 1799." The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. University of California Press, 2008.

Whence is it that Nature does nothing in vain: and whence arises all that Order and Beauty which we see in the World?... does it not appear from Phenomena that there is a Being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent, who in infinite Space, as it were in his Sensory, sees the things themselves intimately, and throughly perceives them, and comprehends them wholly.

Isaac Newton

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

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Topic

God and nature Nature

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1704 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London: Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford, 1704, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 28.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks. Dover Publications, 2012, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 28.

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it… People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

Alice Walker

The Color Purple

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Topic

Beauty of nature Nature

Speaker

Shug

Author

Alice Walker

Source

The Color Purple

Medium

Novel

Genre

Epistolary novel

Language

English

Time

1982 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.

Willa Cather

O Pioneers!

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Topic

Trees Nature

Speaker

Marie Tovesky

Author

Willa Cather

Source

O Pioneers!

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1913 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, pt. 2, ch. 8.

Current Citation

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers, edited by Sharon O'Brien. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007, pt. 2, ch. 8.

Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends;
Where rolled the ocean, thereon was his home;
Where a blue sky, and glowing clime, extends,
He had the passion and the power to roam.

Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Topic

Love of nature Nature

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1818 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. London: John Murray, 1812-1818, canto 3, st. 13.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Lord Byron: The Major Works, edited by Jerome J. McGann. Oxford University Press, 2008, canto 3, st. 13.

Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?

D.H. Lawrence

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Topic

Nature Grass Rabbits

Speaker

Rupert Birkin

Author

D.H. Lawrence

Source

Women in Love

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love. Thomas Seltzer, 1920, ch. 11.

How beautiful is all this visible world!
How glorious in its action and itself!
But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we,
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit
To sink or soar, with our mix'd essence make
A conflict of its elements, and breathe
The breath of degradation and of pride.

Lord Byron

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Topic

Man and nature Nature The human condition

Author

Lord Byron

Source

Manfred

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1817 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lord Byron. Manfred: A Dramatic Poem. London: John Murray, 1817, act 1, sc. 2, l. 37.

Current Citation

Lord Byron. "Manfred." Lord Byron: Selected Poems, edited by Susan J. Wolfson and Peter J. Manning. Penguin Classics, 2006, act 1, sc. 2, l. 37.

In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.

John Muir

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Topic

Wilderness Man and nature Nature

Author

John Muir

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1890 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Muir, John. Journal entry. July 1890.

I'm not over-fond of animals. I am merely astounded by them.

David Attenborough

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Topic

Nature Animals

Speaker

David Attenborough

Source

Independent (newspaper)

Medium

Newspaper

Language

English

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Attenborough, David. Independent. 14 Jan. 1995.

In nature there are few sharp lines.

A.R. Ammons

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Topic

Nature

Author

A.R. Ammons

Source

Corsons Inlet

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ammons, Archie Randolph. "Corsons Inlet." Corsons Inlet: A Book of Poems. W. W. Norton & Company, 1975. Originally published as "A Nature Walk." The Hudson Review, June 1963.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

John Muir

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Topic

Spending time in nature Nature

Author

John Muir

Source

The Yellowstone National Park The Atlantic

Medium

Essay Magazine

Genre

Nature writing

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1898 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Muir, John. "The Yellowstone National Park." Atlantic Monthly, Apr. 1898.

Current Citation

Muir, John. "The Yellowstone National Park." Our National Parks. Dover Publications, 2019.

It is a fine thing to be out on the hills alone. A man can hardly be a beast or a fool alone on a great mountain.

Francis Kilvert

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Topic

Spending time in nature Man and nature Nature

Author

Francis Kilvert

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kilvert, Francis. Diary entry. 29 May 1871.

All the wilderness seems to be full of tricks and plans to drive and draw us up into God's light.

John Muir

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Read My First Summer in the Sierra at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Power of nature Wilderness Nature

Author

John Muir

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Muir, John. Journal entry. 1869.

Current Citation

Muir, John. "My First Summer in the Sierra." John Muir: Nature Writings. Library of America, 1997, ch. 10.

There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.

Robert G. Ingersoll

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Topic

Nature Actions have consequences

Author

Robert G. Ingersoll

Source

Some Reasons Why

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1881 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Ingersoll, Robert Green. "The Christian Religion." The North American Review, Aug. 1881.

Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.

Aldous Huxley

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Topic

Consistency Variety Nature

Author

Aldous Huxley

Source

Wordsworth in the Tropics Do What You Will

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Huxley, Aldous. "Wordsworth in the Tropics." Do What You Will. Chatto & Windus, 1929.

Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral.

John Burroughs

More information about this quote

Topic

Learning from nature Nature

Author

John Burroughs

Source

Time and Change

Genre

Nature writing

Language

English

Time

1912 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Burroughs, John. "The Gospel of Nature." Time and Change. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912.

I come into the peace of wild things
Who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.

Wendell Berry

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and nature Spending time in nature Nature

Author

Wendell Berry

Source

The Peace of Wild Things

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Berry, Wendell. "The Peace of Wild Things." Openings. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968.

Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.

N. Scott Momaday

More information about this quote

Topic

Landscape Nature

Author

N. Scott Momaday

Source

The Way to Rainy Mountain

Genre

Historical literature Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1967 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Momaday, Navarre Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain. University of New Mexico Press, 1969, introduction. Originally appeared in The Reporter, 26 Jan. 1967.

The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and life would not be worth living.

Henri Poincaré

Science and Method

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Topic

Beauty of nature Nature

Author

Henri Poincaré

Source

Science and Method

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Poincare, Henri. Science et methode [Science and Method]. Flammarion, 1914, bk. 1, ch. 3.

What are men to rocks and mountains?

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

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Topic

Men Spending time in nature Nature

Speaker

Elizabeth Bennet

Author

Jane Austen

Source

Pride and Prejudice

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1813 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Vol. 2, London: Thomas Egerton, 1813, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Books, 2002, ch. 4.