Petrarch on nature

Peace I do not find, and I have no wish to make war; and I fear and hope, and burn and am of ice.

Continued work and application form my soul’s nourishment. So soon as I commenced to rest and relax I should cease to live.

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