Nature Quotes

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.
– Richard Milhous Nixon
It is far easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle's eye, hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial administration to give sound and honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory.
– Kwame Nkrumah
Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness.
– Alfred Nobel
It is very difficult to conceive of a hoaxer, so subtle, so knowledgeable - so sick - who would deliberately fake a footprint of this nature.
– John Napier
Nature is under control but not disturbed.
– Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands
If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.
– Alex Noble
We admit no faith to be justifying, which is not itself and in its own nature a spiritually vital principle of obedience and good works.
– John Owen
Capitalism is an art form, an Apollonian fabrication to rival nature. It is hypocritical for feminists and intellectuals to enjoy the pleasures and conveniences of capitalism while sneering at it. Everyone born into capitalism has incurred a debt to it. Give Caesar his due.
– Camille Paglia
What you don't understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.
– Boris Pasternak
I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my soul's desire.
– Saint Patrick
Physics does not change the nature of the world it studies, and no science of behavior can change the essential nature of man, even though both sciences yield technologies with a vast power to manipulate the subject matters.
– Pope Paul VI
Well, English is no problem for me because I am actually English. My whole family are English; I was brought up listening to various forms of the English accent. Obviously there are more specific ones that get a little bit tricky. Same with American stuff. But because in Australia we're so inundated with American culture, television, this that and the other, everyone in Australia can do an American accent. It's just second nature.
– Guy Pearce
But when it first beginneth in a superior person, the proper effect which it createth in an inferior, is not of a single nature, but such a love as is mingled with duty and respect.
– John Pearson
In this the similitude is so great, that there is no difference in the nature of the love produced, and that which did produce it.
– John Pearson
Love is of that excellent nature, that it is esteemed by the best of men, and accepted from the meanest persons; what then is the affection of a Father!
– John Pearson
The love of God to man challengeth love from us, but that of such a nature as cannot be demonstrated but by obedience; and that of a Father to his Son is of the same condition, though not in the same proportion.
– John Pearson
Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility, and commitment.
– Ross Perot
An house is of a double nature, viz., one, wherein it is a way and means of expence, the other as it is an instrument and tool of gain.
– William Petty
The full understanding of the nature of Money, the effects of the various species of Coins, and of their uncertain values, as also of raising or embasing them, is a learning most proper for Ireland, which hath been lately much and often abused for the want of it.
– William Petty
Nature is unfair? So much the better, inequality is the only bearable thing, the monotony of equality can only lead us to boredom.
– Francis Picabia
Nature uses human imagination to lift her work of creation to even higher levels.
– Luigi Pirandello
The elements that unite to make the Grand Canyon the most sublime spectacle in nature are multifarious and exceedingly diverse.
– John Wesley Powell
Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature.
– Marcel Proust
Above, far above the prejudices and passions of men soar the laws of nature. Eternal and immutable, they are the expression of the creative power they represent what is, what must be, what otherwise could not be. Man can come to understand the: he is incapable of changing them.
– Vilfredo Pareto
The solution to a problem changes the nature of the problem.
– John Peers
Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discord.
– George Perkins
But make no mistake: the weeds will win; nature bats last.
– Robert M. Pyle
God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.
– Marcus Fabius Quintilian
To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter Mystery... the more I reflect on it, the more this seems fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still waiting for Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust.
– Joseph Ratzinger
You can never predict in advance how things will turn our. Anyone who is extrapolating the decline of the church in academic, statistical fashion from the situation in Europe is failing to recognize the unpredictable nature of human history in general - and in particular, God's power to take the initiative by intervening, as he is always able to do.
– Joseph Ratzinger
For Debussy the musician and the man I have had profound admiration, but by nature I'm different from him. I think I have always personally followed a direction opposed to that of the symbolism of Debussy.
– Maurice Ravel
Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.
– Man Ray
But I have never seen any proof that there are such laws of nature, far less any proof that the strongest motive always prevails.
– Thomas Reid
But when, in the first setting out, he takes it for granted without proof, that distinctions found in the structure of all languages, have no foundation in nature; this surely is too fastidious a way of treating the common sense of mankind.
– Thomas Reid
However much our late fatalists have boasted of this principle as of a law of nature... I am persuaded that, whenever they shall be pleased to give us any measure of the strength of motives distinct from their prevalence, it will appear, from experience, that the strongest motive does not always prevail.
– Thomas Reid
It is a question of fact, whether the influence of motives be fixed by laws of nature, so that they shall always have the same effect in the same circumstances.
– Thomas Reid
The laws of nature are the rules according to which the effects are produced; but there must be a cause which operates according to these rules.
– Thomas Reid
Communism is in conflict with human nature.
– Joseph Ernest Renan
I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
– John D. Rockefeller
With with these points in mind go forth, enjoy Mother Nature, and celebrate your return to what you're supposed to do, live as an athlete.
– Bill Rodgers
To any artist, worthy of the name, all in nature is beautiful, because his eyes, fearlessly accepting all exterior truth, read there, as in an open book, all the inner truth.
– Auguste Rodin
Television sitcom means a little play each week in front of a live audience. On film, you might spend all day on one scene, doing it from different angles, and they can be more interesting sometimes due to the script, or nature of the project. So I enjoy both mediums for different reasons.
– Stephen Root
Of all the things that oppress me, this sense of the evil working of nature herself - my disgust at her barbarity - clumsiness - darkness - bitter mockery of herself - is the most desolating.
– John Ruskin
At first a small line of inconceivable splendour emerged on the horizon, which, quickly expanding, the sun appeared in all of his glory, unveiling the whole face of nature, vivifying every colour of the landscape, and sprinkling the dewy earth with glittering light.
– Ann Radcliffe
The academia created 1 day greenwich time is bastardly queer and dooms future youth and nature to a hell.
– Gene Ray
When you affirm your own rightness in the universe, then you co-operate with others easily and automatically as part of your own nature. You, being yourself, helps others be themselves. Because you recognize your own uniqueness you will not need to dominate others, nor cringe before them.
– Scott Reed
The truth is that economic competition is the very opposite of competition in the animal kingdom. It is not a competition in the grabbing off of scarce nature-given supplies, as it is in the animal kingdom. Rather, it is a competition in the positive creation of new and additional wealth.
– George Reisman
An artist, under pain of oblivion, must have confidence in himself, and listen only to his real master: Nature.
– Pierre Auguste Renoir
Being by the nature of my upbringing, all my energies having been directed to one channel of activity, crippled from other activities and made helpless even to live.
– Isaac Rosenberg
Thou hast prevariated with thy friend, By underhand contrivances undone me: And while my open nature trusted in thee, Thou hast stept in between me and my hopes, And ravish'd from me all my soul held dear.
– Nicholas Rowe
Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
– William Ruckelshaus
China's repression of Falun Gong makes clear the nature of the regime, its hatred-and fear-of individual thoughts, its disregard for basic human rights and human dignity.
– James Talent
People want to hear about the extremes of human nature. They want things that are larger than their own lives, and more romantic, and not necessarily of their own experiences.
– Richard Thompson
I know no subject more elevating, more amazing, more ready to the poetical enthusiasm, the philosophical reflection, and the moral sentiment than the works of nature. Where can we meet such variety, such beauty, such magnificence?
– James Thomson
For what are the classics but the noblest thoughts of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.
– Henry David Thoreau
It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.
– Henry David Thoreau
Only nature has a right to grieve perpetually, for she only is innocent. Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing along the river which he frequented, as pleasantly as ever. The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God, and we will not be sorrowful, if he is not.
– Henry David Thoreau
What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.
– Henry David Thoreau
Socrates gave no diplomas or degrees, and would have subjected any disciple who demanded one to a disconcerting catechism on the nature of true knowledge.
– G. M. Trevelyan
The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little - or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives.
– Anthony Trollope
The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces - in nature, in society, in man himself.
– Leon Trotsky
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.
– Mark Twain
The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.
– Mark Twain
In choosing where to live or vacation, we may be setting the stage for the play of ourselves, treating nature as a prop.
– Deborah Tall
You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back.
– William D. Tammeus
For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature's finest balm.
– Edwin Way Teale
In nature, there is less death and destruction than death and transmutation.
– Edwin Way Teale
Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.
– Rose Thayer
We must consider the distinctive characters and the general nature of plants from the point of view of their morphology , their behavior under external conditions, their mode of generation, and the whole course of their life.
– Theophrastus
I don't think homosexuality is a choice. Society forces you to think it's a choice, but in fact, it's in one's nature. The choice is whether one expresses one's nature truthfully or spends the rest of one's life lying about it.
– Marlo Thomas
A Carmelite nun should be, by the very nature of her vocation, a specialist in prayer. Or, to give it a more modern twist, she is a career woman in the field of prayer and contemplation.
– Mother Catherine Thomas
He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.
– Forrest Tucker
The nature of the group's situation at a given time predetermines what traits are likely to bring a certain individual to the fore as they leader and what traits will impede such an outcome in others.
– Robert C. Tucker
However much you knock at nature's door, she will never answer you in comprehensible words.
– Ivan Turgenev
I love romantic comedies. They're for me the easiest thing to do and the most natural to do. There's nothing natural about holding an uzi hanging out of a moving van shooting at people. That's not second nature to me, thank God.
– Gabrielle Union
I can't work without a model. I won't say I turn my back on nature ruthlessly in order to turn a study into a picture, arranging the colors, enlarging and simplifying; but in the matter of form I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true.
– Vincent van Gogh
Our task is not to rediscover nature but to remake it.
– Raoul Vaneigem
Divine Nature gave the fields, human art built the cities.
– Marcus Terentius Varro
There must have been something in my nature - I believe, with all my heart, that I have conquered it now - which prevented me from being perfectly happy or making a woman perfectly happy.
– Conrad Veidt
The main action of all such minds must evidently be as independent of the will as is the life in a plant or a tree; and, as they are but different results of the same great vital energy in nature, we cannot but feel that the works of genius are as much a growth as are the productions of the material world.
– Jones Very
Any precinct captain in New York could have told the grandmother that latches of that nature could not guard against the wolf.
– Anthony Vidler
The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, nature would lose the human species.
– Leonardo da Vinci
But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor.
– Voltaire
In the country of Westphalia, in the castle of the most noble Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, lived a youth whom nature had endowed with a most sweet disposition.
– Voltaire
Slavery is also as ancient as war, and was as human nature.
– Voltaire
There is a tendency in nature to the continued progression of certain classes of varieties further and further from the original type.
– Alfred Russel Wallace
You sit up there, and you see the whole gamut of human nature. Even if the case being argued involves only a little fellow and $50, it involves justice. That's what is important.
– Earl Warren
Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away.
– Fay Weldon
Habit is ten times nature.
– Arthur Wellesley
Memory is a magnet. It will pull to it and hold only material nature has designed it to attract.
– Jessamyn West
The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the economy of nature, than the incurious are aware of; and are mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which renders them less an object of attention; and from their numbers and fecundity.
– Gilbert White
After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.
– Walt Whitman
Unknown to her the rigid rule, the dull restraint, the chiding frown, the weary torture of the school, the taming of wild nature down.
– John Greenleaf Whittier
He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about.
– Oscar Wilde
Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests.
– Thornton Wilder
Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game.
– Ted Williams
Humanity is part of nature, a species that evolved among other species. The more closely we identify ourselves with the rest of life, the more quickly we will be able to discover the sources of human sensibility and acquire the knowledge on which an enduring ethic, a sense of preferred direction, can be built.
– Edward O. Wilson
Prescientific people... could never guess the nature of physical reality beyond the tiny sphere attainable by unaided common sense. Nothing else ever worked, no exercise from myth, revelation, art, trance, or any other conceivable means; and notwithstanding the emotional satisfaction it gives, mysticism, the strongest prescientific probe in the unknown, has yielded zero.
– Edward O. Wilson
Factory Records are not actually a company. We are an experiment in human nature. You're labouring under the misapprehension that we actually have a deal with, er, with our, our bands. That we have any kind of a contract, er, at all, and I'm afraid we, er, we don't because that's, er, that's the sum total of the paperwork to do with Factory Records, deal with, er, their various bands.
– Tony Wilson
Considering the havoc mankind has wreaked upon nature with deforesting, stripmining, and the destruction of animal habitat, it only seems fair that nature get some of its own back and teach us that there are forces greater than our own.
– James Wolcott