QuoteProject
Of all celestial bodies within reach or view, as far as we can see, out to the edge, the most wonderful and marvellous and mysterious is turning out to be our own planet earth. There is nothing to match it anywhere, not yet anyway.
Lewis Thomas
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the uniqueness and wonder of Earth compared to other celestial bodies.

Lewis Thomas highlights the extraordinary nature of our planet Earth, asserting that, despite the vastness of the universe and the multitude of celestial bodies, nothing compares to the beauty and mystery of our own planet. His reflection invites us to appreciate the Earth as a remarkable environment filled with life and wonder, encouraging a sense of responsibility for its preservation.

Themes

EarthNatureWonderPlanetCelestialMystery

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on environmental conservation, one could use this quote to emphasize the uniqueness of our planet.

More from Lewis Thomas

I can say, if I like, that social insects behave like the working parts of an immense central nervous system: the termite colony is an enormous brain on millions of legs; the individual termite is a mobile neurone.
Lewis ThomasRead
I suggest that the introductory courses in science, at all levels from grade school through college, be radically revised. Leave the fundamentals, the so-called basics, aside for a while, and concentrate the attention of all students on the things that are not known.
Lewis ThomasRead
I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music, and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection.
Lewis ThomasRead
Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.
Lewis ThomasRead
It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times-seven types of ambiguity in science, awaiting analysis. The poetry of Wallace Stevens is crystal-clear alongside the genetic code.
Lewis ThomasRead
In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years.
Lewis ThomasRead

Similar quotes

As people flock to urban centers where ground space is limited, cities with green walls and roofs and skyscraper farms offer improved health and well-being, renewable resources, reliable food supply, and relief to the environment.
Diane AckermanRead
... it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as family members, as community members, and as citizens. We have an 'environmental crisis' because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling, and enjoying ourselves we are destroying the natural, god-given world.
Wendell BerryRead
An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.
Herman MelvilleRead
I don't care two hoots about civilization. I want to wander in the wild.
Jane GoodallRead
The world, when you look at it, it just can't be random. I mean, it's so different than the vast emptiness that is everything else, and even all the other planets we've seen, at least in our solar system, none of them even remotely resemble the precious life-giving nature of our own planet.
Chris HadfieldRead
A river, though, has so many things to say that it is hard to know what it says to each of us.
Norman MacleanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.