Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.
John MuirRead
Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Approach books with care and appreciation, taking the knowledge they offer without causing harm.
This quote by John Muir emphasizes the importance of treating books as valuable resources. Just as bees delicately gather nectar from flowers without causing harm, we should seek to learn from books, absorbing their wisdom and insights while respecting their integrity. It suggests a gentle yet purposeful engagement with literature, highlighting the balance between enjoyment and preservation.
Themes
BooksKnowledgeWisdomEducationLearning
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of literacy, one might say, 'Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.'
More from John Muir
All quotes βWhen we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
John MuirRead
As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can".
John MuirRead
The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have been a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning, it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe.
John MuirRead
From the dust of the earth, from the common elementary fund, the Creator has made Homo sapiens. From the same material he has made every other creature, however noxious and insignificant to us. They are earth-born companions and our fellow mortals.
John MuirRead
...full of God's thoughts, a place of peace and safety amid the most exalted grandeur and enthusiastic action, a new song, a place of beginnings abounding in first lessons of life, mountain building, eternal, invincible, unbreakable order; with sermons in stone, storms, trees, flowers, and animals brimful with humanity.
John MuirRead
Similar quotes
We in the media have been guilty about not doing a better job of making people understand how really simple cooking is. We've made everyone feel like they have to be a chef.
Ruth ReichlRead
My first program taught me a lot about the errors that I was going to be making in the future, and also about how to find errors. That's sort of the story of my life, making errors and trying to recover from them. I try to get things correct. I probably obsess about not making too many mistakes.
Donald KnuthRead
Once you have learned to trust your own voice and allowed that creative force inside you to come out, you can direct it to write short stories, novels, and poetry, do revisions, and so on. You have the basic tool to fulfill your writing dreams. But beware. This type of writing will uncover other dreams you have, too-going to Tibet, being the first woman president of the United States, building a solar studio in New Mexico-and they will be in black and white. It will be harder to avoid them.
Natalie GoldbergRead
Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they're reading books to babies in the womb.
Alison GopnikRead
We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection.
PlatoRead
Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.
Benjamin RushRead