“The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
“The day is done, and the darkness, falls from the wings of night, as a feather is wafted downward, from an eagle in his flight
“Nature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man
“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides
“If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weed
“To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour
“If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.
“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
“Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass
“I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time.