Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Nature uses destructive forces like fire and ice to eventually create new life and growth.
In plain terms
Destructive floods and storms lead to new life over time.
What can you take from it?
Accept destruction as part of nature’s creative cycle.

Where it applies

  • disaster recovery
  • ecosystem management
  • philosophy

Putting it to work

  • rewilding
  • conservation
  • education

Questions to consider

  • How does your life rebuild after loss?
  • Where do you see renewal in nature?

Another view

Immediate destruction causes real suffering for many.

More from John Muir

  1. Brought into right relationships with the wilderness, man would see that his appropriation of Earth's resources beyond his personal needs would only bring imba…

    Permalink to quote #35
  2. Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Here grow the wallflower and the violet. The squirrel will come and …

    Permalink to quote #37
  3. As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquain…

    Permalink to quote #34

Related quotes

  1. What is this world of ours? A complex entity subject to sudden changes which all indicate a tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings which follow …

    Denis DiderotDenis Diderot quote #3
  2. Castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually

    Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix quote #6
  3. Appealing to his Einstein's way of expressing himself in theological terms, I said: If God had wanted to put everything into the universe from the beginning, H…

    Karl PopperKarl Popper quote #6