Gerard Manley Hopkins on nature

Glory be to God for dappled things

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things

Márgarét, are you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?

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