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The old men say their fathers told them that soon after the fields were left to themselves a change began to be visible.

— Richard Jefferies After London; or, Wild England (1886)

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More quotes by Richard Jefferies

So long as men firmly believe that everything is fixed for them, so long is progress impossible.

The Story of My Heart: My Autobiography (1883)

Never, never rest contented with any circle of ideas, but always be certain that a wider one is still possible.

Story of My Heart : My Autobiography (1901)

Let us get out of these indoor narrow modern days, whose twelve hours somehow have become shortened, into the sunlight and the pure wind. A something that the ancients called divine can be found and felt there still.

The Amateur Poacher (1881)

[A] watch keeping correct time is no guarantee that the bearer shall not suffer pain. The owner of the watch may be soulless, without mind-fire, a mere creature. No benefit to the heart or to the body accrues from the most accurate mechanism.

The Story of My Heart: My Autobiography (1883)

There is nothing human in the whole round of nature. All nature, all the universe that we can see, is absolutely indifferent to us, and except to us human life is of no more value than grass. If the entire human race perished at this hour, what difference would it make to the earth? What would the earth care? As much as for the extinct dodo, or for the fate of the elephant now going.

The Story of My Heart: My Autobiography (1883)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Richard Jefferies (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.