Naturalist

🇺🇸Carl Sagan

Science

1934–1996

"For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations."

Charles Darwin

Science

1758–1778

"It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter. —"

🇺🇸Henry David Thoreau

Literature

Western philosophy

1817–1862

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.."

🇺🇸Theodore Roosevelt

Politics

1858–1919

"Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."

John Muir

Philosophy

environmentalism

1838–1914

"One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books. See how willingly Nature poses herself upon photographers' plates. No earthly chemicals are so sensitive as those of the human soul."

"I have come to view vegetarianism as a standing protest against predation, which is life's greatest evil. If there were no other argument in its favor, that would be sufficient."

Joseph Priestley

Science

1733–1804

"From the fame opinion of a soul distinct from the body came the practice of praying, first for the dead, and then to them with a long train of other absurd opinions, and superstitious practices."

🇺🇸Louis Agassiz

Science

1807–1873

"The facts will eventually test all our theories, and they form, after all, the only impartial jury to which we can appeal."

Thomas Henry Huxley

Science

1825–1895

"Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once."

🇩🇪Hermann von Keyserling

Philosophy

1880–1946

"“This philosophical nation par excellence” says Count Keyserling, “has more Sanskrit words for philosophical and religious thought than are found in Greek, Latin and German combined."

🇦🇺Bill Mollison

Science

1928–2016

"It is no mere coincidence that there is both an historic and a present relationship between community and a poverty of power due to financial recession."

Harry Johnston

Art

1858–1927

"It is the first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man's existence, the first honest protest against our long, long martyrdom."

🇺🇸John Muir (indologist)

Philosophy

environmentalism

1838–1914

"“Only that man... who is deluded, who is desirous of acquiring profits, who has neither deliberated upon his own religion, nor looked at the defects in Christianity, would become a Christian."

🇸🇪Carl Linnaeus

Science

1707–1778

"The Earth's Creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone."

🇦🇹Konrad Lorenz

Medicine

1903–1989

"It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young."

🇺🇸William Beebe

Science

1877–1962

"The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living."

🇩🇪Johannes Kepler

Science

1571–1630

"Harmonices mundi in fulltext facsimile at Carnegie-Mellon University"

🇬🇧George Crabbe

Literature

1754–1832

"Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved."

"a system in which all relevant information would be available to each research worker in an amplitude proportional to its degree of relevance."

🇺🇸Theodosius Dobzhansky

Science

1900–1975

"The greatest evolutionist of our century."

🇺🇸John James Audubon

Science

Naturalism

1785–1851

"International celebration of Audubon through stamps"

🇬🇧Gideon Mantell

Science

1790–1852

"Upon fixing my residence at Lewes, I resolved to devote my leisure moments to the investigation of the "Organic remains of a former world"..."

"Every year at the farm I watch the insect kingdom come into its northern being, flourish in what we have of heat and sun, live out its myriad life, and disappear almost as if it had never been."

🇬🇧Richard Francis Burton

Military

1821–1890

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself."

🇩🇪Hermann von Helmholtz

Science

1821–1894

"On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music Fourth Edition, By Hermann von Helmholtz, Alexander John Ellis, Published by Longmans, Green, 1912, 575 pages"

George Henry Lewes

Philosophy

Positivism

1817–1878

"Shakespeare is a good raft whereon to float securely down the stream of time; fasten yourself to that and your immortality is safe."

"“...from its name, Ramgar, I am inclined to support that it was a part of the building actually erected by Rama."

Pliny the Elder

Science

20–79

"Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough."

🇫🇷Jean-Henri Fabre

Science

Félibrige

1823–1915

"Without feeling abashed by my ignorance, I confess that I am absolutely unable to say. In the absence of an appearance of learning, my answer has at least one merit, that of perfect sincerity."

"The culture of the Anasazi is still the best known of all prehistoric southwestern cultures. ...Their architecture... is distinctly their own, and unique among all the southwestern cultures."

Robert Hooke

Science

1635–1703

"The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke by Richard Waller, including "The Life of Robert Hooke"

Adolphe Quetelet

Science

1796–1874

"I am less desirous to explain phenomena than to establish their existence."

🇺🇸Benjamin Banneker

Science

1731–1806

"Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners."

🇩🇪Paracelsus

Philosophy

1493–1541

"The art of medicine has its roots in the heart. If your heart is false, then also the doctor in you is false. If it is fair, then also the doctor is fair."