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Like a duck
“I love rain and mud like a duck.” III.9 “Of vanity” (p.904)
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What we call monsters
“What we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity of his work the infinity of forms that he has comprised in it…From his infinite wisdom there proceeds nothing but that is good and ordinary and regular…We call contrary to nature what happens contrary to custom; nothing is anything but according…
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On being naturally inclined to society
“There is nothing to which nature seems to have inclined us more than to society.” I.28 “Of friendship” (p.165) [People are naturally drawn to and in need of connection with other people.]
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Art Should Not Gain the Pre-Eminence of Mother Nature
“Neither is it reasonable that art should gain the pre-eminence of our great and powerful mother nature. We have so surcharged her with the additional ornaments and graces we have added to the beauty and riches of her own works by our inventions, that we have almost smothered her; yet in other places, where she…