#nature

Throughout the world what remains of the vast public spaces are now only the stuff of legends: Robin Hood’s forest, the Great Plains of the Amerindians, the steppes of the nomadic tribes, and so forth… Rousseau said that the first person who wanted a piece of nature as his or her own exclusive possession and transformed it into the transcendent form of private property was the one who invented evil. Good, on the contrary, is what is common. ↗

— Antonio Negri

#empire #evil #good #private-property #nature

Metaphor is awkward, but emotion, by its nature, leaves you no more scalable approach. ↗

— Rachel Hartman

#metaphors #nature

Im Gegensatz zum Tier kann ich mich über die Zwänge der Natur erheben. Ich kann Sex haben, ohne mich vermehren zu wollen. Ich kann Substanzen konsumieren, die mich für eine Weile von der sklavischen Ankettung an den Körper erlösen. Ich kann den Überlebenstrieb ignorieren und mich in Gefahr bringen, allein um den Reiz der Herausforderung willen. Dem wahren Menschen genügt das Dasein nicht, wenn es ein bloßes Hier-Sein meint. Der Mensch muss sein Dasein erfahren. Im Schmerz. Im Rausch. Im Scheitern. Im Höhenflug. Im Gefühl der vollständigen Machtfülle über die eigene Existenz. Über das eigene Leben und den eigenen Tod. Das, meine arme, vertrocknete Mia Holl, ist Liebe. ↗

— Juli Zeh

#nature

Labels bias our perceptions, thinking, and behavior. A label or story can either separate us from, or connect us to, nature. For our health and happiness, we must critically evaluate our labels and stories by their effects. ↗

— Michael J. Cohen

#ecology #health #labels #nature #psychology

There is a bit of testicle at the bottom of our most sublime sentiments and most refined tenderness. ↗

— Diderot

#nature

Hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes are all Natural Disasters. We can't fit Global Warming into that category. We have only us to blame ↗

— Veronica White

#nature

Earth, stars, and the vastness of space; yesterday, today and tomorrow; and the endlessly increasing knowledge of the relation of forces, present an illimitable universe of numberless phenomena. Only in general outline can the universe be understood. In its infinite variety of expression, it wholly transcends the human mind... In the midst of this complexity man finds himself. As he progresses from childhood to manhood, and his slumbering faculties are awakened, he becomes more fully aware of the vastness of his universe and of the futility of hoping to understand it in detail. Nevertheless, conscious man cannot endure confusion. Out of the universal mystery he must draw at least the general, controlling laws that proclaim order in the apparent chaos; and especially is he driven, by his inborn and unalterable nature, to know if possible his own place in the system of existing things. ↗

— John Andreas Widtsoe

#nature

A few alligators are naturally of the vicious type and inclined to resent it when you prod them with a stick. You can find out which ones these are by prodding them. ↗

— Will Cuppy

#humor #reptiles #nature

I thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than the rent which he now pays annually. If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself; and my shortcomings and inconsistencies do not affect the truth of my statement. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#nature #the-woods #nature

In the nineteenth century, Fritjof Nansen wrote that skiing washes civilization clean from our minds by dint of its exhilarating physicality. By extension, I believe that snow helps strip away the things that don't matter. It leaves us thinking of little else but the greatness of nature, the place of our souls within it, and the dazzling whiteness that lies ahead. ↗

— Charlie English

#snow #nature