'If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.'

'The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.'

- Marine biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

A quote by Florence Nightingale

"Poetry and imagination begin life."

Rachel Carson didn't argue for wholly organic farming

Her 1962 book, “Silent Spring,” inspired many people to consider the chemicals used to grow their food, but Carson didn’t think that manufactured fertilizers needed to be banned from farming, writing that “The ultimate answer is to use less toxic chemicals so that the public hazard from their misuse is greatly reduced.” When she testified to Congress in 1963, she said, “I think chemicals do have a place.”

Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' exposed the harmful effects of pesticides on food

The 1962 book warned against the use of DDT, a pesticide often sprayed over fields of crops, cautioning that it could be harmful if ingested in excessive amounts by humans. Some credit Carson’s book with inspiring the modern environmental movement and with encouraging the US to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and ban the domestic sale of DDT in 1972. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

'It might be that some day I shall be drowned by the sea, or die of pneumonia from sleeping out at night, or be robbed and strangled by strangers. These things happen. Even so, I shall be ahead because of trusting the beach, the night and strangers.'

-Janet Reno, the US' first female attorney general (1938-2016)

'When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.'

- Author Jacqueline Susann (1918-1974)

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

'The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop'd.'

- Poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

'Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.'

-Author and poet Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929)

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog' is an iconic romantic artwork

Caspar David Friedrich’s painting portrays man’s fascination with the natural world and emphasizes his smallness in the midst of its grandeur, epitomizing Edmund Burke's concept of "the sublime."

'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all.'

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

'The bounty of nature is also one of the deep needs of man.'

- Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007)

A quote by Lauren Bacall

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

'For it would seem—her case proved it—that we write, not with the fingers, but with the whole person. The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fibre of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver.'

- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) in "Orlando: A Biography"

'Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.'

- Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) in "Elenora"

'The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.'

- Poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

Read the poetry of Henry David Thoreau

Although primarily known for his nonfiction, the New England transcendentalist was also a prolific poet, writing verse that, like his essays, tackled nature, man, and society. The Academy of American Poets has collected 30 of his poems, which you can read for free.

'Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.'

- Legendary author Jane Austen (1775 -1817)

'A word after a word after a word is power.'

- Author Margaret Atwood (1939-present)

John Steinbeck's 'Sea of Cortez,' a travelogue through the Gulf of California, is still used by ecologists today.

'We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.'

- Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury

'I can’t go back to yesterday–because I was a different person then.'

- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898)

Read the poetry of Emily Dickinson

Dickinson wrote about 1,800 poems during her life, though the bulk of them weren't published until after her death in 1886. This collection from the Academy of American Poets brings together many of her most important (but untitled) works, which you can search by their first lines.

'I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.'

- Author Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

'Voices ought not be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.'

- Iconic singer Sam Cooke (1931–1964)

Watch writer John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

'There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.'

- Writer Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Although primarily known for his painting, Pablo Picasso was also a poet.

'All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.'

- "The Lord of the Rings" author JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)

'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'

-Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)

A quote from Van Gogh

"Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful."

Underwater nighttime photos capture the ocean's diversity

Self-taught photographer Steven Kovacs explores Palm Beach's ocean after sunset, capturing tiny sea creatures in deep waters. Over eight years, he's dived into Florida's eastern coast, drifting from 0 to 100 feet, photographing rarely seen larval fish. Lacking formal marine biology training, Kovacs collaborates globally to identify species like cusk eels and the female blanket octopus, known for its revealing membrane. Check out his photos here.

'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.'

- Maya Angelou

'I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot ... The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.'

- Author Jack London (1876 - 1916)

Whitman revolutionized American poetry

Whitman was a groundbreaking force in American literature, legitimizing the national idiom, capturing the spirit of the evolving country, and inspiring younger generations of writers for centuries to follow.

‘Leaves of Grass’ remains relevant to American identity 170 years later

Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” is over 170 years old, but many say its poems are as relevant as ever. This podcast unpacks how Whitman constructed a dynamic, original text that would transcend his time and inspire generations of poets.

'Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.'

- Author Philip Roth (1933-2018)

'If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.'

- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

'Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.'

- Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

- Author Malcolm Gladwell (1963 - present)

'If you can't do it with feeling, don't.'

-Singer Patsy Cline (1932-1963)

The Beats autobiographical impulse is still influential

The Beats autobiographical approach to literature is seen in contemporary autofiction. While autofiction emerged as a literary term in the 1970s, its philosophy has several antecedents, including Colette’s Claudine novels, Marcel Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time" and Beat writer Jack Kerouac’s "On the Road."

Allen Ginsberg on how Walt Whitman changed poetry

In this 1992 appearance on "Charlie Rose," Beat Generation icon Ginsberg articulates why Whitman mattered not only to the Beats but to all of poetry, arguing that he forever changed the possibilities of the form.

Walt Whitman helped define the voice and spirit of American literature

The 19th-century poet is considered one of the most important voices in the American canon. His collection “Leaves of Grass,” in particular, is regarded as a foundational text and is widely taught in American high schools and colleges.

Read 10 of the best quotes about nature from David Attenborough

From reflecting on the interconnectedness of life and humanity's shared responsibility to protect biodiversity to the power of young people in driving change and understanding nature's beauty and importance, this list highlights some of the most noteworthy things said by the famed natural historian.

William Blake may be best known as a poet, but he was also a painter

The author of "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" was a romantic poet and painter. "Newton," one of his better-known pieces, satirizes Isaac Newton, whom he saw as too concerned with the empiricism of science and, as a result, lacking an understanding of nature.

Beats emphasized the importance of 'spontaneous prose'

Beat writer Jack Kerouac believed literature should aim to be more like jazz, using improvisation to burrow down to the root of the subconscious. In this video from the University of Pennsylvania’s Modern and Contemporary Poetry course, Professor Al Filreis directs a conversation of Kerouac’s manifesto, “Essential of Spontaneous Prose.”

During her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was better known as a gardener than a poet.

Inside 'Blood Meridian' author Cormac McCarthy's library of 20,000 books

The reclusive writer published 12 novels and taught himself stonemasonry and quantum physics, among myriad other skills and subjects. Since he died in 2023, scholars have been mining his personal library for lessons on his influences, interests, and more.