The dog is the only living being that has found and recognizes an indubitable, tangible and definite god. He knows to whom above him to give himself. He has not to seek for a superior and infinite power.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the critical role bees play in our ecosystem and food supply.
Maurice Maeterlinck's quote illustrates the fundamental importance of bees to human survival, suggesting that their extinction would lead to catastrophic consequences for our food systems and, by extension, humanity's existence. It serves as a stark reminder of our reliance on these pollinators for a variety of crops and the interconnectedness of all life forms within our ecosystem.
Themes
BeesEcosystemPollinationSurvivalEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might say, 'As Maeterlinck noted, if the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live, highlighting the need for protecting our pollinators.'
More from Maurice Maeterlinck
All quotes βRemember that happiness is as contagious as gloom. It should be the first duty of those who are happy to let others know of their gladness.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
No living creature, not even man, has achieved, in the centre of his sphere, what the bee has achieved in her own: and were some one from another world to descend and ask of the earth the most perfect creation of the logic of life, we should needs have to offer the humble comb of honey.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together ... Speech is too often ... the act of quite stifling and suspending thought, so that there is none to conceal ... Speech is of Time, silence is of Eternity ... It is idle to think that, by means of words, any real communication can ever pass from one man to another.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
As soon as we put something into words, we devalue it in a strange way. We think we have plunged into the depths of the abyss, and when we return to the surface the drop of water on our pale fingertips no longer resembles the sea from which it comes. We delude ourselves that we have discovered a wonderful treasure trove, and when we return to the light of day we find that we have brought back only false stones and shards of glass; and yet the treasure goes on glimmering in the dark, unaltered.
Maurice MaeterlinckRead
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They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse.
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