Topics · Books, Art & Culture
Wisdom about nature.
What people have learned about nature the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.
Discussions
Community rules
- Speak from experience. Say what you lived and what you learned. Advice without a story is easy to ignore.
- Be kind to the person. Disagree with an idea as much as you like. Never with someone’s worth.
- Not a substitute for care. Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice. In crisis, reach out to local services.
- No selling. No promotion, referral links or pitching your course.
From the library
Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
The painter strives and competes with nature.
Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark.
A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
The relation of the Tao to all the world is like that of the great rivers and seas to the streams from the valleys.
Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures.
The painter who works from nature should have a window, which he can raise and lower.
Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep.
The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.
Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.
A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long. His case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm:—this is the way to secure that its enduring life shall long be seen.
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
The course and nature of things is such that What was in front is now behind; What warmed anon we freezing find. Strength is of weakness oft the spoil; The store in ruins mocks our toil. Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
All things are produced by the Tao, and nourished by its outflowing operation. They receive their forms according to the nature of each, and are completed according to the circumstances of their condition. Therefore all things without exception honour the Tao, and exalt its outflowing operation.
In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that these (two) things are owing? To Heaven and Earth. If Heaven and Earth cannot make such (spasmodic) actings last long, how much less can man!
That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive the homage and tribute of all the valley streams, is their skill in being lower than they;—it is thus that they are the kings of them all. So it is that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person behind them.
The skilful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels or footsteps; the skilful speaker says nothing that can be found fault with or blamed; the skilful reckoner uses no tallies; the skilful closer needs no bolts or bars, while to open what he has shut will be impossible; the skilful binder uses no strings or knots, while to unloose what he has bound will be impossible. In the same way the sage…
The grandest forms of active force From Tao come, their only source. Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well. Eluding sight, eluding touch, The forms of things all in it crouch; Eluding touch, eluding sight, There are their semblances, all right. Profound it is, dark and obscure; Things' essences all there endure. Those essences the truth enfold Of what, when seen,…