...is not Nature, rightly read, that of which she is commonly taken to be the symbol merely?

Henry David Thoreau
About This Quote

This quote is a very interesting one because it brings up the idea of reading nature correctly. Many people think that they can read nature, but what they really mean is that they read it for their own purposes. Let’s say, for instance, that you want to study plants and animals and you think you’ve understood their meaning and how they work. Now, suppose you know all about plants and animals and you still don’t know what they mean.

Then you’ve found out something new about plants and animals. Hasn’t nature given us a beautiful book that we can open up and read? It has! And when we understand that book, we will discover that nature is glorious in all its forms.

Source: A Week On The Concord And Merrimack Rivers

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