Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern.
I'm not trying to copy Nature, I'm trying to find the principles she's using.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying principles of nature rather than merely imitating it.
R. Buckminster Fuller highlights the significance of discovering and comprehending the fundamental principles that govern the natural world. Instead of merely replicating nature's designs, the focus should be on learning from its complexities and efficiencies to innovate and enhance human creations. This perspective encourages a deeper investigation into the workings of nature to inspire sustainable solutions in design and technology.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a presentation about sustainable architecture to emphasize learning from natural systems.
More from R. Buckminster Fuller
All quotes βThere is no such thing as genius, some children are just less damaged than others.
Only the free-wheeling artist-explorer, non-academic, scientist-philosopher, mechanic, economist-poet who has never waited for patron-starting and accrediting of his co-ordinate capabilities holds the prime initiative today.
The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
I have spent most of my life unlearning things that were proved not to be true
The earth is like a spaceship that didn't come with an operating manual.
Similar quotes
Mars once was wet and fertile. It's now bone dry. Something bad happened on Mars. I want to know what happened on Mars so that we may prevent it from happening here on Earth.
There are no miracles in agricultural production.
We find, therefore, under this orderly arrangement, a wonderful symmetry in the universe, and a definite relation of harmony in the motion and magnitude of the orbs, of a kind that is not possible to obtain in any other way.
Let's get into talking about how autism is similar animal behavior. The thing is I don't think in a language, and animals don't think in a language. It's sensory based thinking, thinking in pictures, thinking in smells, thinking in touches. It's putting these sensory based memories into categories.
Climate change is real. Climate change is being substantially increased by humans and the carbon we put into the atmosphere. And it appears to be speeding up. If science has made any mistakes, science has been underestimating it.
Scientists are peeping toms at the keyhole of eternity.