Solitary converse with nature; for thence are ejaculated sweet and dreadful words never uttered in libraries. Ah! the spring days, the summer dawns, and October woods! – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims, “Inspiration”

Nature is new every morning, but its cycles are ancient, independent of all our anxieties, oblivious to our plans. – Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, “Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer,” 2003 September 25th

Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature. – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel