To any artist, worthy of the name, all in nature is beautiful, because his eyes, fearlessly accepting all exterior truth, read there, as in an open book, all the inner truth. – Auguste Rodin

Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there divines the spirit of which nature herself is animated. – Auguste Rodin
The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him. – Auguste Rodin
I never had any other desire so strong, and so like covetousness, as that…. I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature. – Abraham Cowley
Random Quotes
The troubles of the young are soon over; they leave no external mark. If you wound the tree in its youth the bark will quickly cover the gash; but when the tree is very old, peeling the bark off, and looking carefully, you will see the scar there still. All that is buried is not dead. – Olive Schreiner