Nature Quotes about the Natural World

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Get inspired to reconnect with the natural world with the best nature quotes.

Nature and its beauty have long been a source of inspiration for mankind. Its wildness, unpredictability, and resilience contain lessons we can all benefit from.

Even being in nature has the ability to restore our minds, renew our spirits, and help us center ourselves. So enjoy these nature quotes and gain a new appreciation for the environment and the world around you today.

Top 20 Nature Quotes

Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.

William Wordsworth

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature is the purest portal to inner-peace.

Angie Weiland Crosby
Alexander Pope quote "All nature is but art unknown to thee"
“All nature is but art unknown to thee.” – Alexander Pope

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.

E.O. Wilson

There is no better designer than nature.

Alexander McQueen

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

Aristotle

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

William Shakespeare
Leigh Hunt quote "Colors are the smiles of nature"
“Colors are the smiles of nature.” – Leigh Hunt

Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

Hippocrates

The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.

Euclid

Water is the driving force of all nature.

Leonardo da Vinci

A walk in nature walks the soul back home.

Mary Davis

Choose only one master—nature.

Rembrandt
Leonardo da Vinci quote "Nature is the source of all true knowledge"
“Nature is the source of all true knowledge.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Nothing is art if it does not come from nature.

Antoni Gaudi

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.

William Wordsworth

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Quotes about Nature

There is no denying the vastness and variability of nature. These nature quotes show how it has been the source of study, reverence, and admiration for mankind. The joys of being in nature should always be celebrated.

Whether you’re walking through a damp forest, crunching along a black-sand beach, or climbing snowy mountain tops – it’s easy to lose yourself and find yourself again in the natural world.

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.

Albert Einstein

Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see.

Henri Rousseau

I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

Anne Frank

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

John Muir

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.

Standing Bear
Aristotle nature quote "Nature does nothing in vain"
“Nature does nothing in vain.” – Aristotle

Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.

Gretel Ehrlich

Light in Nature creates the movement of colors.

Robert Delaunay

Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.

Lorraine Anderson

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

Blaise Pascal

Nature can do more than physicians.

Oliver Cromwell

A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

Joshua Reynolds

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

John Muir

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Curiosity is the one thing invincible in nature.

Freya Stark

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.

Henry Beston

We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.

William Hazlitt

Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.

Gary Snyder
Ugo Betti quote "There is no forgiveness in nature"
“There is no forgiveness in nature.” – Ugo Betti

Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.

Joseph Campbell

The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.

Claude Monet

Adopt the secret of nature: her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.

Alice Walker

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

Frank Lloyd Wright

There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.

Henry David Thoreau

If you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.

Alex Trebek

Men argue. Nature acts.

Voltaire

To me, Mother Nature isn’t nearly as scary as human nature.

Paula Stokes

If nature has taught us anything it is that the impossible is probable.

Ilyas Kassam
Gerard De Nerval quote "Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature"
“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard De Nerval

In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes.

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier

During all these years there existed within me a tendency to follow Nature in her walks.

John James Audubon

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

Albert Einstein

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.

Rachel Carson

As in nature, as in art, so in grace; it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their luster.

Thomas Guthrie

If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Everything in nature is lyrical in its ideal essence, tragic in its fate, and comic in its existence.

George Santanaya

How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!

Emily Dickinson

You can never really go wrong if you take nature as an example.

Christian Dior

The course of Nature is the art of God.

Edward Young

Natural Beauty Quotes

Part of our fascination with nature is the duality it contains. Nature gives us harsh and unforgiving experiences like hurricanes, but also brings beauty to the world.

These quotes on natural beauty focus on the beautiful side of the natural world. Think about flowers blooming, brightly colored humming birds and butterflies flapping, or scenic views of brilliant sunsets.

It’s no wonder so many nature quotes compare it to art and acknowledge the Divine within it.

Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.

Louie Schwartzberg
"The beauty of the natural world lies in the details"
“The beauty of the natural world lies in the details.” – Natalie Angier

Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself.

L. Wolfe Gilbert

Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind.

Amit Ray

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.

Walt Whitman

Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.

Mattie Stepanek

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

John Muir

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.

Walt Whitman

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I’ve seen the majestic beauty of nature and the overwhelming perfection of it. To me, there’s nothing closer to God than that.

Cote de Pablo

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Albert Einstein

It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.

Laura Ingalls Wilder
Van Gogh quote "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere"
“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” – Vincent Van Gogh

There are no lines in nature, only areas of color, one against another.

Edouard Manet

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.

Marie Curie

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

Rachel Carson

Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.

Isaac Newton

Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.

Mark Twain

Tranquility, serenity, and beauty of nature taught me how to find happiness in life and in the silence of eternity.

Debasish Mridha

Scenery Quotes

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’

Sylvia Plath

Land really is the best art.

Andy Warhol

The greener the setting, the more the relief.

Richard Louv

The mountains are calling and I must go.

John Muir

The Amen of nature is always a flower.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
"The poetry of the earth is never dead"
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” – John Keats

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.

Theodore Roethke

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.

Jane Austen

Sunsets are proof that endings can often be beautiful, too.

Beau Taplin

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

Edward Abbey

Leave the roads; take the trails.

Pythagoras

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

Michel de Montaigne

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.

Zeno

The environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain the environment, we cannot sustain ourselves.

Wangari Maathai

Environment Quotes

The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.

Lady Bird Johnson

The Earth is what we all have in common.

Wendell Berry
"We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment"
“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.” – Margaret Mead

We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

Chief Seattle

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.

Wangari Maathai

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

Henry David Thoreau

Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

Carl Sagan

The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.

Richard Rogers

The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.

Blaise Pascal

For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Never, no, never did nature say one thing and wisdom another.

Edmund Burke

I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored.

David Attenborough

It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.

Dalai Lama

Humankind’s greatest priority is to reintegrate with the natural world.

Jonathon Porritt

Wilderness Quotes

Some of the best parts of spending time in nature are found in excursions into the wilderness.

Those forests with no trails, deserts with no roads, or even the open sea all have rugged and uncertain characteristics that make them interesting.

I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.

Aldo Leopold
"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit"
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” – Edward Abbey

The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.

Edward Abbey

I don’t like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It’s just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.

Walt Disney

The land knows you, even when you are lost.

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.

Stewart Udall

The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.

Theodore Roosevelt

If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go. We are talking about the body of the beloved, not real estate.

Terry Tempest Williams

Our drive, our ruggedness, our unquenchable optimism and zeal and elan go back to the challenges of the untrammeled wilderness.

Harvey Broome

Without wilderness, we will eventually lose the capacity to understand America.

Harvey Broome

In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.

Charles Lindbergh

If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.

Steve Irwin

Wild animals are less wild and more human than many humans of this world.

Munia Khan

The rules of wildlife are simple and clear, which is not the case for men.

Laurent Baheux

The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.

Jim Fowler
Steve Irwin nature quote "If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves"
“If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves.” – Steve Irwin

It is not enough to understand the natural world; the point is to defend and preserve it.

Edward Abbey

Outdoor Quotes

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.

Helen Keller

My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.

Aldous Huxley

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.

Bill Watterson

You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that is out of the reach of industry and valor.

Alexander The Great

The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure.

D. H. Laurence

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.

John Burroughs

There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.

Charlotte Eriksson

Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet.

Brooke Hampton

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Hans Christian Andersen

If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand.

Buddha

Being able to smell the fresh air and disconnect from the news and your phone — there’s nothing like it.

Jason Ward
Dostoyevsky quote "Drive nature out of the door and it will fly in at the window"
“Drive nature out of the door and it will fly in at the window.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.

Linda Hogan

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.

Mahatma Gandhi

Forest Quotes

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

John Muir

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.

Hal Borland

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.

John Muir

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

Lord Byron

Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises.

Emily Carr

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

Winston Churchill

It is said that the forest has a certain limit if you look straight ahead, but the sides are boundless.

Riccardo Bozzi
"Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time"
“Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.” – Katrina Mayer

Not just beautiful, though — the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they’re watching me.

Haruki Murakami

Forests are like churches, hallowed places. There’s a stillness about them, a sort of reverence.

Sabrina Elkins

Forests should not be walked on, they should be walked under and through.

Courtney M. Privett

I am convinced that most Americans of the new generation have no idea what a decent forest looks like. The only way to tell them is to show them.

Aldo Leopold

Do you feel more connected to nature now? If not, try getting outside and meeting Mother Nature for yourself again.

Admiring natural beauty and enjoying time outdoors will give you a better appreciation for the environment, and even has health benefits. So get out and walk among the trees, or even plant some of your own, and cherish the planet we live on today.

Photo of author

Quincy Seale

Quincy is KIM's editor, and has collected and shared inspiring quotes and stories since 2005. Quincy holds an MBA from the University of Dundee and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and lives in San Antonio with his wife Natalie, son Alex, and his dog Oban.