...Nature builds up her refined and invisible architecture, with a delicacy eluding our conception, yet with a symmetry and beauty which we are never weary of admiring.
Interpretation
Nature creates intricate and beautiful structures that captivate our admiration despite their invisibility.
In this quote, John Herschel expresses the idea that nature constructs an unseen yet exquisite framework that often goes unnoticed, yet possesses an elegance and harmony that continually draws our appreciation. This reflects the awe-inspiring complexity and artistry found in the natural world, which resonates deeply with our sense of beauty and wonder.
In practice
Quoting this in a lecture about the importance of preserving the environment.
Almost all the greatest discoveries in astronomy have resulted from what we have elsewhere termed Residual Phenomena, of a qualitative or numerical kind, of such portions of the numerical or quantitative results of observation as remain outstanding and unaccounted for, after subducting and allowing for all that would result from the strict application of known principles.
Every student who enters upon a scientific pursuit, especially if at a somewhat advanced period of life, will find not only that he has much to learn, but much also to unlearn.
To the natural philosopher, there is no natural object unimportant or trifling. From the least of Nature's works he may learn the greatest lessons.
There is a way of beholding nature which is a form of prayer, a way of minding something with such clarity and aliveness that the rest of the world recedes. It . . . gives the brain a small vacation.
The Maldives, a string of islands off the coast of India whose highest point above sea level is eight feet, may be the first nation to drown. In Alaska, entire towns have begun to shift in the loosening permafrost.
Nature gropes and blunders and performs the crudest acts. There is no steady advance upward. There is no design.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens, you have made them bright, precious and fair.
When you get into the whole field of exploring, probably 90 percent of the kinds of organisms, plants, animals and especially microorganisms and tiny invertebrate animals are unknown. Then you realize that we live on a relatively unexplored plan.
I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me
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