#ect

Pride,’ observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, ‘is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. ↗

— Jane Austen

#pride #reflections #self-complacency #truth #nature

Natural selection involves no plan, no goal, and no direction — just genes increasing and decreasing in frequency depending on whether individuals with those genes have, relative to other individuals, greater or lesser reproductive success. ↗

— Randolph M. Nesse

#natural-selection #nature

It may be underfunded and at times mismanaged, but the [Endangered Species] Act is an unprecedented attempt to delegate human-caused extinction to the chapters of history we would rather not revisit: the Slave Trade, the Indian Removal Policy, the subjection of women, child labor, segregation. The Endangered Species Act is a zero-tolerance law: no new extinctions. It keeps eyes on the ground with legal backing-the gun may be in the holster most of the time, but its available if necessary to keep species from disappearing. I discovered in my travels that a law protecting all animals and plants, all of nature, might be as revolutionary-and as American-as the Declaration of Independence. ↗

— Joe Roman

#endangered-species-act #patriotism #protection #wildlife #nature

Teachers deserve respect," I explain. "Why do they get it for free, when everyone else has to earn it? ↗

— Jodi Picoult

#jacob #respect

Alles, was der Mensch tut, unvollkommen ist. Aber wer will sich schon seine Unvollkommenheit eingestehen? ↗

— Adelbert von Chamisso

#imperfection #nature

In living this way, we discover new opportunities for comfort and enjoyment. Where the younger person may have tossed and turned throughout a sleepless night, the older man or woman can possibly feel the pleasure that comes from lying on a good mattress, resting one's weary bones and overcharged intellect, whether or not one sleeps throughout the hours of darkness. ↗

— Irving Singer

#insomnia #nature #overcharged-intellect #spirit #nature

A comprehensively reductive conception is favored by the belief that the propensity for the development of organisms with a subjective view must have been there from the beginning, just as the propensity for the formation of atoms, molecules, galaxies, and organic compounds must have been there from the beginning. ↗

— Thomas Nagel

#nature

Of all my old associations, of all my old pursuits and hopes, of all the living and the dead world, this one poor soul alone comes natural to me, and I am fit for.  There is a tie of many suffering years between us two, and it is the only tie I ever had on earth that Chancery has not broken! ↗

— Charles Dickens

#despair #gridley #miss-flite #richard #tie

And all the insects ceased in honor of the moon. ↗

— Jack Kerouac

#moon #nature #nature

LOVE is made up of a strong affection and patience whiles LUST is made up of a strong affection and impatience. Affection is common to them, but patience is not common. ↗

— Israelmore Ayivor

#affectionate #common #fall-in-love #good-relationship #i-love-you