nature quotes from influential philosophers, authors and people
"A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature."
33
"We are in a far better position to observe instincts in animals or in primitives than in ourselves. This is due to the fact that we have grown accustomed to scrutinizing our own actions and to seeking rational explanations for them."
164
"But if there is no harm, to the elements themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements [himself] for it is according to nature; and nothing is evil that is according to nature."
341
"A man must live conformably to the universal nature, which means, as the emperor explains it in many passages, that a man's actions must be conformable to his true relations to all other human beings, both as a citizen of a political community and as a member of the whole human family."
345
"The end of a man is, as already explained, to live conformably to nature, and he will thus obtain happiness, tranquility of mind, and contentment."
348
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy."
362
"The universe is a grand book which cannot be read until one first learns to comprehend the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is composed."
393
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
394
"Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it."
1005
"See that the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man."
1187
"As usual, nature’s imagination far surpasses our own, as we have seen from the other theories which are subtle and deep."
1188
"Although it is true that by fate all things are forced and linked by a necessary and dominant reason, nevertheless the character of our minds is subject to fate in a manner corresponding to their nature and quality."
48
"Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point."
87
"Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies."
91
"The practice of judging and condemning morally, is the favorite revenge of the intellectually shallow on those who are less so, it is also a kind of indemnity for their being badly endowed by nature, and finally, it is an opportunity for acquiring spirit and BECOMING subtle-- malice spiritualizes."
149
"Understand: people will constantly attack you in life. One of their main weapons will be to instill in you doubts about yourself – your worth, your abilities, your potential. They will often disguise this as their objective opinion, but invariably it has a political purpose – they want to keep you down."
155
"Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning."
187
"The unvarnished truth is that almost all the people you meet feel themselves superior to you in some way, and a sure way to their hearts is to let them realize in some subtle way that you recognize their importance, and recognize it sincerely."
331
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
537
"Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy."
572
"It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it."
587
"No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education."
635
"Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination."
689
"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything."
724
"Freedom, in a political context, means freedom from government coercion. It does not mean freedom from the landlord, or freedom from the employer, or freedom from the laws of nature which do not provide men with automatic prosperity."
875
"To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say."
914
"Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them. I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last."
932
"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."
941
"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."
959
"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
966
"I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different. Whether Nature has acted rightly or wrongly in destroying the mould in which she cast me, can only be decided after I have been read."
1000
"Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is."
1048
"He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool."
1052
"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."
1055
"Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man."
1082
"There is nothing alive more agonized than man / of all that breathe and crawl across the earth."
1102
"We suffer for the simple reason that suffering is biologically useful. It is nature’s preferred agent for inspiring change. We have evolved to always live with a certain degree of dissatisfaction and insecurity, because it’s the mildly dissatisfied and insecure creature that’s going to do the most work to innovate and survive."
1166