One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.
Loren EiseleyRead
Man inhabits a realm half in and half out of nature, his mind reaching forever beyond the tool, the uniformity, the law, into some realm which is that of the mind alone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans exist at the intersection of nature and consciousness, striving towards creativity and understanding beyond mere survival.
This quote by Loren Eiseley reflects on the dual existence of humanity, where we are part of the natural world yet aspire to transcend it through thought and creativity. It emphasizes that while we utilize tools and follow laws for survival, our true essence lies in our ability to think abstractly and imagine possibilities beyond the tangible reality of nature.
Themes
NatureMindCreativityConsciousnessExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmentalism, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of understanding our mental role in nature.
More from Loren Eiseley
All quotes →Choices, more choices than we like afterward to believe, are made far backward in the innocence of childhood.
Loren EiseleyRead
Some degree of withdrawal serves to nurture man's creative powers. The artist and the scientist bring out of the dark void, like the mysterious universe itself, the unique, the strange, the unexpected. Numerous observers have testified upon the loneliness of the process.
Loren EiseleyRead
After chiding the theologian for his reliance on myth and miracle, science found itself in the unenviable position of having to create mythology of its own: namely, the assumption that what, after long effort, could not be proved to take place today had, in truth, taken place in the primeval past.
Loren EiseleyRead
Of all the unexpected qualities of an unexpected universe, the sheer organizing power of animal and plant metabolism is one of the most remarkable. . . . Where it reaches its highest development, in the human mind, we forget it completely. . . . So important does nature regard this unseen combustion . . . that a starving man's brain will be protected to the last while his body is steadily consumed.
Loren EiseleyRead
The need is not really for more brains, the need is now for a gentler, a more tolerant people than those who won for us against the ice, the tiger and the bear. The hand that hefted the ax, out of some old blind allegiance to the past fondles the machine gun as lovingly. It is a habit man will have to break to survive, but the roots go very deep.
Loren EiseleyRead
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Say I feel all sad and self-indulgent, then get stung by a wasp, my misery feels quite abstract and I long just to be in spiritual pain once more - 'damn you tiny assassin, clad in yellow and black, how I crave my former innocence where melancholy was my only trial'.
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I'm interested in what motivates individuals to participate in atrocious acts to support their ideological identification.
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Ask yourself constantly, "What is the right thing to do?" Behave toward everyone as if receiving a great guest.
ConfuciusRead
Language also encodes our past. We want to know who we are. To know who we are, we have to know who we used to be. Consequently, our literature, written in the past, anchors us in that past.
Andrzej WajdaRead