Quotes About Observation

We have had bird's-eye views seen by mind's eye imperfectly. Now we will have nothing less than the tracings of nature itself, reflected on the plate.

There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast

When the artist observes nature... it is as if nature communicated, through the sensitivity of the artist at that moment, one of its secrets.

Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations.

The Louvre is a good book to consult, but it must only be an intermediary. The real and immense study that must be taken up is the manifold picture of nature.

There is no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other.

Going around under an umbrella interferes with one's looking up at the sky.

Art will never come except from some small disregarded corner where an isolated and inspired man is studying the mysteries of nature.

Impressionism means taking inspiration directly from nature, trusting your senses rather than what you think you know.

It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we say about nature.

It were happy if we studied nature more in natural things; and acted according to nature, whose rules are few, plain, and most reasonable.

But where do they find these lines in nature? I can only see luminous or obscure masses, planes that advance or planes that recede, reliefs or background. My eye never catches lines or details.

The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.

The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see.

In the first place, [his eyes] never laughed when he laughed. Have you ever noticed this peculiarity some people have? It is either the sign of an evil nature or of a profound and lasting sorrow.

Of all the animals which fly in the air, walk on the land, or swim in the sea, from Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal in my opinion is man.

Nature won't be summoned to order and won't be kept waiting. It must be caught, well caught.

You see nature and then you try to emulate it.

Is there a more mysterious idea than to imagine how nature is reflected in the eyes of animals?

Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent's.

As we do not see squares in nature, I thought that it is man-made. But I have corrected myself. Because squares exist in salt crystals, our daily salt.

Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

We must go and see for ourselves.

Once I saw a chimpanzee gaze at a particularly beautiful sunset for a full 15 minutes, watching the changing colors [and then] retire to the forest without picking a pawpaw for supper.