Learning gives us a fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature; which one would think, might dispose us to modesty.
He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.
By nature's kindly disposition most questions which it is beyond a man's power to answer do not occur to him at all.
Man may act according to that principle or inclination which for the present happens to be strongest, and yet act in a way disproportionate to, and violate his real proper nature.
Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.
Nature, too, shall live its own life. We must beware not to disrupt it with the color of our houses and interior fittings. yet we should not attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together into a higher unity.
Natural capital is easy to overlook because it is the pond we swim in. One can live perfectly well without ever giving a thought to the sulfur cycle or wetland functions. Only when the benefits nature provides are disrupted do we take notice.
The romantic image of the ancient world is very inspiring, as is nature itself, but I think the dissatisfaction with our modern world is the strongest force keeping me going.
Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another's.
I think it's in human nature to want to have more, to compete with the other and, at some level, to be dissatisfied if someone else has more than you.
Toil and pleasure, dissimilar in nature, are nevertheless united by a certain natural bond.
Understanding dissolves fear. When we understand the true nature of our being, fears dissipate. We are spiritual beings, not human beings.
A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.
A dislike of death is no proof of the want of religion. The instincts of nature shrink from it, for no creature can like its own dissolution. But though death is not desired, the result of it may be, for dying to the Christian is the way to life eternal.
Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.
Nature has made men free and equal. The distinctions necessary for social order are only founded on general utility.
We must consider the distinctive characters and the general nature of plants from the point of view of their morphology, their behavior under external conditions, their mode of generation, and the whole course of their life.
He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one's gaze.
I love taking elements and colours from nature and then distorting them somehow.
In my own life, I have found grief to be enormously distorting, particularly if it's sudden or extreme in nature.
