#nature

Human beings appear to be sufficiently selfish and calculating to be capable of indefinitely greater harmony and social homeostasis. This statement is not self-contradictory. True selfishness, if obedient to the other constraints of mammalian biology, is the key to a more nearly perfect social contract. - pg. 157 ↗

— Edward O. Wilson

#society #nature

You can't fool Mother Nature, and you can't fool market forces (at least not for long) ↗

— Richard McKenzie

#nature

Tell this to ladies: how a hero man Assail a thick and scandalous giant Who casts true shadow in the sun, And die, but play no truant. This is more horrible: that the darling egg Of the chosen people hatch a creature Of noblest mind and powerful leg Who cannot fathom nor perform his nature. ↗

— John Crowe Ransom

#goliath #king-david #nature

I would call that man a born artist whose soul nature has from the very beginning endowed with an ideal, and for whom this ideal replaces the truth; he believes in it without reservation, and his life's task will be to realize it completely for himself, and to set it forth for the contemplation of others. ↗

— Hans von Marées

#nature

Viele sagen, sie "lieben die Natur". Das heißt, sie sind nicht abgeneigt, je und je ihre dargebotenen Reize sich gefallen zu lassen. Sie gehen hinaus und freuen sich über die Schönheit der Erde, zertreten die Wiesen und reißen schließlich eine Menge Blumen und Zweige ab, um sie bald wieder wegzuwerfen oder daheim verwelken zu lassen. So lieben sie die Natur. ↗

— Hermann Hesse

#nature

Historically, philosophy does not have an impressive track record of answering questions about natural world in a decisive manner. ↗

— Christof Koch

#nature

Toute transformation sociale (...) s'est fondée sur de nouvelles bases métaphysiques et idéologiques; ou plutôt, sur des émotions et intuitions plus profondes, dont l'expression rationalisée prend la forme du cosmos et de la nature de l'homme. ↗

— Lewis Mumford

#lewis-mumford #society #nature

Unless you were high up in a building or happened to glimpse it at the end of one of the big avenues going east-west, all you knew of the sunset was a darkening in the air. No wonder people in New York were so unbalanced. They were totally untouched by the rhythms of nature. You were only aware of nature when something extreme happened, like a snowstorm or heatwave. ↗

— Susan Minot

#nature

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow, through Eden took their solitary way. ↗

— John Milton

#nature

I trust, and I recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme- Order, Fate, the Great Spirit, Nature, God. I recognize this power in the sun that makes all things grow and keeps life afoot. I make a friend of this indefinable force…this is my religion of optimism. ↗

— Helen Keller

#nature #optimism #religion #spirituality #nature