"The instincts of the ant are very..." - Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The instincts of the ant are very unimportant, considered as the ants; but the moment a ray of relation is seen to be a monitor, a little body with a mighty heart, then all its habits, even that said to be recently observed, that it never sleeps, become sublime.
More by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Wherever we go, whatever we do, self is the sole subject we study and learn.”
“It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.”
“The secret of success in society is a certain heartiness and sympathy.”
More on Perspective
“To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it.”
“When I work a game as an analyst, all I do is look at the game like a coach.”
“A baboon in a forest is a matter of legitimate speculation; a baboon in a zoo is an object of public curiosity; but a baboon in your wife’s bed is a cause of the gravest concern.”
More on Nature
“Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favor compared with the products of nature, the living cell of the plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life.”
“Nothing can be more delicate without being fantastical, nothing more firm and based in nature and sentiment, than the courtship and mutual carriage of the sexes.”
“The repose of darkness is deeper on the water than on the land.”