Men speak of natural rights, but I challenge any one to show where in nature any rights existed or were recognized until there was established for their declaration and protection a duly promulgated body of corresponding laws.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

Nature has no principles. She makes no distinction between good and evil.

It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.

Painting from nature is not copying the object it is realizing one's sensations.

I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him.

The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres.

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts reflection combines them experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

A God without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but fate and nature.