Nature uses as little as possible of anything.

Nature uses as little as possible of anything.

Nature's great law, and law of all men's minds?--
To its own impulse every creature stirs;
Live read more

Nature's great law, and law of all men's minds?--
To its own impulse every creature stirs;
Live by thy light, and earth will live by hers!

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off read more

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill read more

What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism

That man's best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature's infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should read more

That man's best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature's infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should make himself an imitation, this is the fact which Nature moans over, and deprecates beseechingly. Be spontaneous, be truthful, be free, and thus be individuals! is the song she sings through warbling birds, and whispering pines, and roaring waves, and screeching winds.

Life has loveliness to sell, all beautiful and splendid things, blue waves whitened on a cliff, soaring fire that sways read more

Life has loveliness to sell, all beautiful and splendid things, blue waves whitened on a cliff, soaring fire that sways and sings, and children's faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup.

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. read more

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Sentimentality about nature denatures everything it touches.

Sentimentality about nature denatures everything it touches.