“[T]here is not a moment of any day of our lives, when nature is not producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain it is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure.”
— John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume 1 (1843)
“Roused mentally by the thunder of the waves upon the iron cliffs below, the stupendous majesty of Nature burst upon me with greater force than ever before, and woke anew the tempest in my heart--the awful wrestling of Life and Death.”
— Hector Berlioz, The Life of Hector Berlioz as Written by Himself in His Letters and Memoirs (trans. Katharine F. Boult, 1903) (1831)
“Hence as you go through the fields, turn your attention to various objects, and, in turn look now at this thing and now at that, collecting a store of divers facts selected and chosen from those of less value.”
— Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Richter translation)
“Praised be my Lord, for sister moon and for the stars, In heaven Thou hast formed them clear and precious and fair.”
— Francis of Assisi, The Canticle of the Sun (trans. Paschal Robinson) (1225)
“Thus I wandered, shooting or singing, careless where I might pass the night; sometimes hurrying, again stopping to investigate some ancient tomb, to listen silently to the distant bells of St Peter's, far away in the plain; interrupting my hunt for a flock of lapwing to jot down a note for a symphony, and, in short, enjoying to the full my absolute freedom.”
— Hector Berlioz, The Life of Hector Berlioz as Written by Himself in His Letters and Memoirs (trans. Katharine F. Boult, 1903) (1831)
“And I replied unto all the things which encompass the door of my flesh: "Ye have told me of my God, that ye are not He; tell me something of Him." And they cried out with a loud voice, "He made us." My questioning them, was my thoughts on them: and their form of beauty gave the answer.”
— Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine (trans. E. B. Pusey)
“The foxglove blossom, — a third part bud, a third part past, a third part in full bloom, — is a type of the life of this world.”
— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, Volume 2 (1853)
“Feeling things themselves, reality, is more important than feeling paintings, at least more productive and life-giving.”
— Vincent van Gogh, Letters of Vincent van Gogh (1882)
“And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! / And he is no mean preacher; / Come forth into the light of things, / Let Nature be your teacher.”
— William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads (1798) (1798)
“[I]n my case the emotions that take hold of me in the face of nature go as far as fainting, and then the result is a fortnight during which I am incapable of working.”
— Vincent van Gogh, Letters of Vincent van Gogh (1890)
“men should combine these tendencies, and he who reposes should act and he who acts should take repose. Discuss the problem with Nature; she will tell you that she has created both day and night.”
— Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius
“For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Every quote in this collection was verified
against its original public-domain source — the letter, journal, poem or treatise it
truly comes from. No internet folklore, no misattributions.
Start free to bring these voices into your daily practice.