"Air, fire, water and the earth evolve out of the spiritual and material staminibus in periodic cycles of time. Diverse connections of water, air, and light precede the emergence of the seed of the simplest plant, for instance moss. Many plants had to come into being, then die away before an animal emerged. Insects, birds, water animals, and night animals preceded the present animal forms; until finally the crown of earthly organization appeared—the human being, microcosm. He is the son of all the elements and beings, Nature’s most carefully chosen conception and the blossom of creation. He must be the youngest child of Nature; many evolutions and revolutions must have preceded his formation."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from GermanyLiterary criticsPoets from GermanyTheologians from GermanyPhilosophers from Germany
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Book 1, as cited in Frank Teichmann (tr. Jon McAlice), "The Emergence of the Idea of Evolution in the Time of Goethe"
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Gottfried_Herder
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Johann Gottfried Herder
1744 – 1803
deutscher Schriftsteller, Philosoph und Theologe
57 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Johann Gottfried Herder →
Related Quotes
"Each strives with each, as each is pressed upon; each must provide for his own subsistence, and defend his own life."
"Why acts nature thus? and why does she thus crowd her creatures one upon another? Because she would produce the great…"
"With the regret of a traveler, obliged to leave a country before he learned to know it as he wished, I take leave of …"
"In his later work, in particular, he voices considerable animus against British colonization in India; in his 1803 pr…"
"Der Appetit nach einer schönen Frucht ist angenehmer als die Frucht selbst."
"For every ancient nation likes to consider itself the firstborn and to take its territory for humanity’s birthplace."
"Am sorgfältigsten, mein Freund, meiden Sie die Autorschaft darüber. Zu früh oder unmäßig gebraucht, macht sie den Kop…"
"Should there not be manifest progress and development but in a higher sense than people have imagined it? ... No one …"
"Wir leben immer in einer Welt, die wir uns selbst bilden."
"Calmly take what ill betideth; Patience wins the crown at length: Rich repayment him abideth Who endures in quiet str…"