Fear is the mother of all gods ... Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods.

There is nothing that exists so great or marvelous that over time mankind does not admire it less and less.

Constant dripping hollows out a stone.

Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.

Sweet it is, when on the high seas the winds are lashing the waters, to gaze from the land on another's struggles.

I return to the newborn world, and the soft-soil fields, What their first birthing lifted to the shores Of light, and trusted to the wayward winds. First the Earth gave the shimmer of greenery And grasses to deck the hills; then over the meadows The flowering fields are bright with the color of springtime, And for all the trees that shoot into the air.

There is no place in nature for extinction.