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Nature Quotes

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Nature Quotes

“The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity -- then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective.”

“The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.”

“Who can say which is the greater sign of creative power, the sun with its planet system swinging with governed impetus to some incalculable end, or the gold sallow catkin with its flashing system of little flies?”

Littles Ends Nature Sun Creative Greater Planets Gold Creative Power Impetus

Author:Mary Webb

“If we drive our fellow species to extinction, we will leave a far more desolate planet for our descendants than the world we inherited from our elders.”

Ifs World Nature Planets Fellows Climate Species Elders Extinction Descendants Desolate

Author:James Hansen

“Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do.”

Source: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

“I...understand that age is kind of awesome. I am fortunate enough to know women like Gloria Steinem - who I think is one of the most stunning women on the planet - [who] doesn't touch her face. Diane Keaton, Annette Bening - all of these fabulous, fearless women who are flawless - they embrace it!”

“[Fighting Climate Change] is important for every single person on the planet, which is why it has to be the greatest grassroots movement of all time. This is the battle of our lives. We're fighting for our children.”

“Civilization... wrecks the planet from seafloor to stratosphere.”

Nature Environment Planets Civilization Pollution Wrecks Natural Environment Save Mother Earth

Author:Richard Bach

“I had nixed the idea of having children when I was myself a child, having learned in the 1960s that human overpopulation was literally crowding other species off the planet. Why create another mouth to gnaw at the overburdened earth?”

Humans Children Ideas Earth Nature Animal Planets Mouths Species 1960s Having Children Overpopulation Animals In Nature

Author:Sy Montgomery

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.”

Source: A Fairly Honourable Defeat

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”

“I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially.”

Ifs Life Inspirational Humans Science Nature Chance Race Planets Approach Survival Beats Human Race Submission Pessimistic Ingenious

Author:E. B. White

“From a human point of view, the difference between the mind of a human and that of a mountain goat is wonderful; from the point of view of the infinite ignorance that surrounds us, the difference is not impressive. Indeed, from that point of view, the goat may have the better mind, for he is more congenially adapted to his place, and he would not endanger his species or his planet for the sake of an idea.”

Mind Humans May Ideas Nature Differences Animal Views Wonderful Ignorance Planets Mountain Infinite Species Sake Point Of View Surround Impressive Goats Adapted

Author:Wendell Berry

“The universe is composed of subjects to be communed with, not objects to be exploited. Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightening and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees, ~~ all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.”

Universe Stars Voice Nature Community Animal Existence Tree Subjects Objects Planets Flower Bird Related Thunder Stars And Planets

Author:Thomas Berry

“If the age of the Earth were a calendar year and today were a breath before midnight on New Year's Eve, we showed up a scant fifteen minutes ago, and all of recorded history has blinked by in the last sixty seconds. Luckily for us, our planet-mates--the fantastic meshwork of plants, animals, and microbes--have been patiently perfecting their wares since March, an incredible 3.8 billion years since the first bacteria. ...After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.”

“Our Children no longer learn how to read the great book of Nature from their own direct experience, or how to interact creatively with the seasonal transformations of the planet. They seldom learn where their water come from or where it goes. We no longer coordinate our human celebration with the great liturgy of the heavens.”

Humans Children Book Heaven Water Nature Planets Garden Direct Transformation Our Children Celebration Great Book Liturgy Coordinates

Author:Wendell Berry

“Ecologically speaking, a spilt tanker load is like sticking a safety pin into an elephant's foot. The planet barely notices. After the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska the oil company spent billions tidying up the coastline, but it was a waste of money because the waves were cleaning up faster than Exxon could. Environmentalists can never accept the planet's ability to self-heal.”

“On our planet, all objects are subject to continual and inevitable changes which arise from the essential order of things. These changes take place at a variable rate according to the nature, condition, or situation of the objects involved, but are nevertheless accomplished within a certain period of time. Time is insignificant and never a difficulty for Nature. It is always at her disposal and represents an unlimited power with which she accomplishes her greatest and smallest tasks.”