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“The living ocean drives planetary chemistry, governs climate and weather, and otherwise provides the cornerstone of the life-support system for all creatures on our planet, from deep-sea starfish to desert sagebrush. That's why the ocean matters. If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.”
Sylvia Earle (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now that the wind is tamed and broken, And day gleams over the lea, Row, row, for the one you love Was out on the raging sea: Row, row, row, Sturdy and brave o’er the treacherous wave, Hope like a beacon before, Row, sailor, row Out to the sea from the shore!”
Louise Imogen Guiney (1861–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bottom trawls—large bag-shaped nets towed over the sea floor—account for more of the world's catch of fish, shrimp, squid, and other marine animals than any other fishing method. But trawling also disturbs the sea floor more than any other human activity, with increasingly devastating consequences for the world's fish population.”
Carl Safina (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is there a difference between a Jewish sea and a non-Jewish sea? What is a Jewish way of painting? (translation from Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”
Jozef Israëls (1824–1911) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Israëls in a talk with N. Sokolov, c. 1910's; published in Ishim part 3. by Sokolov (written in Hebrew); Tel Aviv, 1935, pp. 151-169
“The main lesson that emerges from this volume is that sea level rise, combined with human population growth, urban development in coastal areas, and landscape fragmentation, poses an enormous threat to human and natural well-being in Florida. How Floridians respond to sea level rise will offer lessons, for better or worse, for other low-lying regions worldwide.”
Reed Noss (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the unique things is that whether we were out at sea or in the middle of the water tank, a lot of times you just couldn't leave. Especially when we were out at sea.”
John C. Reilly (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Newspapers have become such a danger that it is necessary to create many. You cannot contend against the Press, except through its multitude. Add flood to flood, and let them drown one another, forming no more than a swamp, or, if you will, a sea. The swamp has its lagoons, the sea its moments of slumber. We will see whether it is possible to build some Venice within it.”
Louis Veuillot (1813–1883) said by 1883 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I assumed as a child that big fish belonged only to exotic, tropical seas. I didn’t see them in the Mediterranean I knew. But years later, in that same sea’s Medes Islands Marine Reserve, I finally saw all the fish I’d never seen before: sea bream, corvina, grouper. I saw all that had been lost to overfishing and pollution and realized that the whole Mediterranean must once have been like this.”
Enric Sala (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Reverend Dr. Colbatch... who some Years since desired me to attempt, to make Sea-Water wholesome, informs me that he had good Reason to believe that the Ingredient which Mr. Walcot put into Sea-Water, in order to make it wholesome, was some Preparation of by Fire.”
Stephen Hales (1677–1761) said by 1761 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!”
Katharine Lee Bates (1859–1929) first seen 1897 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First stanza of the earlier version "America : A Poem for July 4", in The American Kitchen Magazine, Vol. VII, No. 4 (July 1897), p. 151
“O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.”
Katharine Lee Bates (1859–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today the Indian is pressed almost to the farther sea. Does that sea symbolize his death?”
Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the sea level rise is real, and for those of us who are very close to the sea, we can see it.”
Colette Pichon Battle wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Time is not a river running inexorably to the sea, but the sea itself—its tides that appear and disappear, the fog that rises to become rain in a different river. All things that were will come again.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People often forget that they too are subject to the whims of the sea, that their flesh and bone can be pulled down and swallowed up just like anything else. But the sea remembers. It remembers everything, from the smallest broken shell to the largest sunken ship.”
Tiphanie Yanique (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were unstated rules about who could and could not swim in the sea. A child: not without supervision. A girl: hardly ever. But. He also knew how the sea was with certain people, how it needed them, and they it.”
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quite close together, in the warmness of shared bodies, they dared to dream of the sea. Some imagined it as the deep well of the soul; others sketched it out like the face of a drowned man, weighed down with broken seaweed and shells. (first lines of "First Time to the Sea")”
Marjorie Agosín (1955–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I my eyes from your eyes | I would never remove them, | now I actually eat them | you don't know anyway. | Eyes of the sea without rocks | the sea crashes on me | that I have always only made mistakes | but what is a mistake? (from Canzone, n. 2)”
Lucio Dalla (1943–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bow of the boat cuts the sea in two | but the sea comes together and always remains the same | and between a Greek, a Norman, a Byzantine | I still remained Sicilian. (from Siciliano, n. 2)”
Lucio Dalla (1943–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What do I want to say? I myself do not quite understand. Only that today, when for the glory of God Mokichi and Ichizo moaned, suffered and died, I cannot bear the monotonous sound of the dark sea gnawing at the shore. Behind the depressing silence of this sea, the silence of God. ... the feeling that while men raise their voices in anguish God remains with folded arms, silent.”
Shūsaku Endō (1923–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“America the beautiful, Let me sing of thee; Burger King and Dairy Queen From sea to shining sea.”
Ada Louise Huxtable (1921–2013) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Goodbye History, Hello Hamburger", in The New York Times (March 21, 1971); collected in Kicked a Building Lately? (New York Times Book Co., 1976), p. 256
“The sun was like a word written between the sea and the sky, a word that was swallowed up by the sea before any man had time to read it.”
Stella Benson (1892–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sea-faring men with their sea-weary eyes.”
Stephen Phillips (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Old World and the New, from sea to sea, Utter one voice of sympathy and shame! Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat high, Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came.”
Tom Taylor (born 2001) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the year 1321, I had an audience of our lord the pope, and presented him two books on the recovery of the Holy Land, and safety of the faithful; one bound in red, the other in yellow. At the same time I brought under his notice four geographical maps, one of the Mediterranean Sea, another of the land and sea, the third of the Holy Land, the fourth of Egypt.”
Marino Sanuto the Elder (1260–1343) said by 1343 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith (New York, 1882), vol. i, p. 408
“The rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres To hear the sea-maid's music.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Mixed feelings when he [Max Ernst frequently writes about himself in the third person] enters the forest for the first time: delight and oppression. And what the Romantics spoke of as 'being at one with Nature'. Wonderful joy in breathing freely in an open space, but also anxiety at being encircled by hostile trees. Outside and inside at the same time, free and trapped.”
Max Ernst (1891–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in 'Room 6, Max Ernst', the exhibition text of FONDATION BEYELER 2 - MAX ERNST, 2013, texts: Raphaël Bouvier & Ioana Jimborean; ed. Valentina Locatelli; transl. Karen Williams
“Pollution, defilement, squalor are words that never would have been created had man lived conformably to Nature. Birds, insects, bears die as cleanly and are disposed of as beautifully as flies. The woods are full of dead and dying trees, yet needed for their beauty to complete the beauty of the living.... How beautiful is all Death!”
John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1875 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: August or September 1875, page 222
“The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains — mountain-dwellers who have grown strong there with the forest trees in Nature's workshops.”
John Muir (1838–1914) first seen 1890 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: July 1890, pages 315-316
“I had innumerable visions at that time [c. 1903]; wherever I looked, Nature was alive, the sky, the clouds, on every stone and among the branches of the trees, everywhere my creatures stirred and lived their still or wild, lively lives, arousing my excitement and crying out to be painted.”
Emil Nolde (1867–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A new day. Calm as seldom the beginning of such a one. Did I dream? No! Dream and contented pure was the night.. .It is the sure certainty of having found unity with nature, this calm causes one of the strongest experiences. Man, air, trees, world are laid bare and are one! Contented sleep releases the limbs. We await full moon. Await the dance!”
Emil Nolde (1867–1956) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: c. 1918; in Aus dem Palau-Tagebuch, 'Das Kunstblatt 2', no. 6, p. 179; as quoted in 'The Revival of Printmaking in Germany', I. K. Rigby; in German Expressionist Prints and Drawings - Essays Vol 1.; published by Museum …
“One of the big breakthroughs came when I started gardening. Nature is always the best teacher. It IS the universe. It IS life/death/rebirth. Trees fall, plants die, but all the time they’re also being reborn. I can’t help but notice the universe has provided all the conditions for life not just to survive but to thrive.”
Heather Brooke (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature is interesting at all times, but, as a general rule, very harsh and glaring sunlight, when the sun is high in the heavens, should be avoided, because at such times there is an often an utter lack of relief, roundness and modeling in the trees and other objects.”
Arthur Hammond (1880–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Climate change does not know the face of a woman, man, rich, or even the poor. We need to take environmental issues seriously. We need to plant trees; we need to make policies that touch human beings; we need to stop burning our bushes. The issue of wildlife is very important because we need to coexist with our nature.”
Priscilla Achapka wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel watched. By nature. I think now. It’s what I felt watching me, all along. It knows us. It watches us. The animals have eyes that see us. The birds, the trees, everything knows what we do. (Chapter 3, p59)”
Linda Hogan (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In reality man cannot live without trees as adopting and co-existing in harmony with nature becomes incontrovertible.”
Bidemi Lafiaji Okuneye (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must come back to nature. Conservation begins with love. We must nurture a million people who care before we plant a million trees.”
Truphena Muthoni wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, where is man— That mortal god, that hath no mortal kin Or like on earth? Shall Nature's orator— The interpreter of all her mystic strains — Shall he be mute in Nature's jubilee?”
Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Subtle. No egg but differs from a chicken more Than metals in themselves. Surly. That cannot be. The egg's ordained by nature to that end And is a chicken in potentia. Subtle. The same we say of lead and other metals, Which would be gold if they had time. ...for 'twere absurd To think that nature in the earth bred gold Perfect in the instant; something went before. There must be remote matter.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1610 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Alchemist (1610) Act II, scene ii
“We now live in a technologically prepared environment that blankets the earth itself. The humanly contrived environment of electric information and power has begun to take precedence over the old environment of "nature." Nature, as it were, begins to be the content of our technology.”
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So nature does indeed need protection from man; but man, too, needs protection from his own acts, for he is part of the living world. His war against nature is inevitably a war against himself. His heedless and destructive acts enter into the vast cycles of the earth, and in time return to him.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We shall now conclude our remarks on the opinions entertained before the Christian era... the observation of the present course of nature presented too many proofs of alterations continually in progress on the earth to allow philosophers to believe that nature was in a state of rest or that the surface had remained and would continue to remain unaltered.”
Charles Lyell (1797–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Seek more and more direct contact and communion with nature – with the soul invigorative as well bodily beneficial influences of earth, sky, sun , wind and rain. Feeling oneness with nature. Face up to the weather and meet all its changing needs. Accept the weather as a whole. It then becomes an ally.”
Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though I think that man has from nature the capacity of living, either by prey, or upon the fruits of the earth; it appears to me, that by nature, and in his original state, he is a frugivorous animal, and that he only becomes an animal of prey by acquired habit.”
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714–1799) first seen 1774 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of the Origin and Progress of Language (Edinburgh and London: J. Balfour and T. Cadell, 2nd ed., 1774), Vol. I, Book II, Ch. II, pp. 224-225.
“The buddha nature, or tathagatagarbha, is present in all beings, but is hidden by obscurations, in the same way that buried gold is hidden by the earth under which it lies. As you listen to, reflect, and meditate on the Dharma, all the inherent qualities of your buddha nature will be actualized.”
Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A civil war is unfolding — one between forces hell-bent on exploiting animals and the earth for profit whatever the toll, and activists steeled to resist this omnicide tooth and nail. We are witnessing not only the long-standing corporate war against nature, but also a new social war about nature.”
Steven Best (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only love for God and God's good earth will keep our attention and move us to commitment. Nature is rising up to judge us Nature is striking back to call us to repentance.”
Robert H. Meneilly (1925–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Health is a journey. I would love to see a world where the first place of living healthy is going to Mother Earth and nature to look at what nature has given us to stay healthy.”
Unoma Ndili Okorafor (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As the days pass and the seasons change, the sky, earth, mountains and rivers repeat in patterns that are never really quite the same. In my search for the variations of the many faces in nature, I have found that nature provides an infinite source of inspiration for artistic expression,”
Marlene Tseng Yu (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every death even the cruellest death drowns in the total indifference of Nature Nature herself would watch unmoved if we destroyed the entire human race I hate Nature this passionless spectator this unbreakable iceberg-face that can bear everything this goads us to greater and greater acts”
Peter Weiss (1916–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source