The latest issue of @laphamsquart has some great quotes about nature and the climate. All quite pertinent given the hellish drought Australia’s been through lately.

“Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth”

- Chief Seattle, 1855

“People too will vanish with the grasses”

- Minamoto no Muneyuki, c. 930

“Whether we live or die is a matter of absolutely no concern to the desert”

- Edward Abbey, 1968

“When nature is overridden, she takes her revenge”

- Mary’s Mannes, 1958

“What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of might rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before”

- Henry Miller, 1940

“The old idea of a static landscape, like a single musical chord sounded forever, must be abandoned, for such a landscape never existed except in our imagination”

- Daniel B. Botkin, 1990

“Those who cross the seas change their climate but not their character”

- Roman proverb

“Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable”

- W. Somerset Maugham, 1896

“There is something stirring in the way civilisation gapes like a savage at the achievements of nature”

- Karl Kraus, 1909

“Mans great mission is not to conquer nature by main force but to cooperate with her intelligently but lovingly for his own purposes”

- Lewis Mumford, 1962

“In tampering with the earth, we tamper with a mystery”

- Jonathon Schell, 2000

“Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished”

- Francis Bacon, 1625

“You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be constantly running back”

- Horace, 20BC

“It’s hard when nature does not respect your intentions, and she never does exactly respect them”

- Wendell Berry, 1985

“There is a time to battle against nature, and a time to obey her. True wisdom lies in making the right choice”

- Arthur C. Clarke, 1979

“Among the greatest traitors of history, one might mention the weather”

- Ilka Chase, 1969

“Even the most ardent environmentalist doesn’t really want to stop pollution. If he thinks about it, and doesn’t just talk about it, he wants to have the right amount of pollution”

- Milton Friedman, 1975

“It seems to me that we all look at nature too much and live with her too little”

- Oscar Wilde, 1897

“It’s only the futility of the first flood that prevents God from sending a second”

Sebastian Chamfort, 1794