...Nature builds up her refined and invisible architecture, with a delicacy eluding our conception, yet with a symmetry and beauty which we are never weary of admiring.
Interpretation
Nature creates intricate and beautiful structures that captivate our admiration despite their invisibility.
In this quote, John Herschel expresses the idea that nature constructs an unseen yet exquisite framework that often goes unnoticed, yet possesses an elegance and harmony that continually draws our appreciation. This reflects the awe-inspiring complexity and artistry found in the natural world, which resonates deeply with our sense of beauty and wonder.
In practice
Quoting this in a lecture about the importance of preserving the environment.
Almost all the greatest discoveries in astronomy have resulted from what we have elsewhere termed Residual Phenomena, of a qualitative or numerical kind, of such portions of the numerical or quantitative results of observation as remain outstanding and unaccounted for, after subducting and allowing for all that would result from the strict application of known principles.
Every student who enters upon a scientific pursuit, especially if at a somewhat advanced period of life, will find not only that he has much to learn, but much also to unlearn.
To the natural philosopher, there is no natural object unimportant or trifling. From the least of Nature's works he may learn the greatest lessons.
As a child, I used to have a secret dread - and a recurring nightmare - of the whole world becoming city, being covered with cement and buildings and streets. No more country. No more woods.
ALL things in Nature work silently. They come into being and possess nothing. They fulfil their functions and make no claim.
The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers.
Nature, with equal mind, Sees all her sons at play, Sees man control the wind, The wind sweep man away.
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.
The shortage of fresh water is the major ecological problem of this moment.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.