Ralph Waldo Emerson on nature

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.

Albert Einstein1879–1955

Nature does nothing uselessly.

Aristotle384–322 BCPolitics, Book I, 1253a.8

Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.

Baltasar Gracián1601–1658

• Art