The comic spirit is given to us in order that we may analyze, weigh, and clarify things in us which nettle us, or which we are outgrowing, or trying to reshape
Thornton WilderRead
Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nature can often subject us to unpredictable and extreme challenges.
This quote by Thornton Wilder suggests that nature has a whimsical yet sometimes harsh side. It reminds us that while nature can provide beauty and nourishment, it can also unleash terrifying forces, testing our resilience and ability to cope with the unexpected.
Themes
NatureChallengesResilienceUnpredictabilityWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of respecting natural forces and the need for preparedness.
More from Thornton Wilder
All quotes →A man looks pretty small at a wedding, George. All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way.
Thornton WilderRead
Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking... and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths...and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
Thornton WilderRead
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
Thornton WilderRead
Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech.
Thornton WilderRead
I want you to try and remember what it was like to have been very young. And particularly the days when you were first in love; when you were like a person sleepwalking, and you didn’t quite see the street you were in, and didn’t quite hear everything that was said to you. You’re just a little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?
Thornton WilderRead
Similar quotes
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.
John BurroughsRead
When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue.
Mary OliverRead
You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.
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The environment is in us, not outside of us. The trees are our lungs, the rivers our bloodstream. We are all interconnected, and what you do to the environment ultimately you do to yourself.
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Time in nature is not leisure time; it's an essential investment in our chidlren's health (and also, by the way, in our own).
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The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead