Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society. – Honore de Balzac

As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens. – Stephen Graham, The Gentle Art of Tramping

And out of darkness came the hands that reach thro nature, moulding men. – Alfred Lord Tennyson

I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me. – William Hazlitt (1778–1830)