--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How many thorns of human nature - hard…" description: "\"How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless protuberances that tear and wound us, narrow prejudices, bristling conceits that repel and disg..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg" --- # How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless… ![“How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless protuberances that tear and wound us, narrow prejudices, bristling conceits that repel and disgust us - are arrested developments, calcified tendencies, buds of promise that should have lifted a branch up into the sunny day with fruit; and…” quote by John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg) > “How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless protuberances that tear and wound us, narrow prejudices, bristling conceits that repel and disgust us - are arrested developments, calcified tendencies, buds of promise that should have lifted a branch up into the sunny day with fruit; and flowers to delight the heart of men, but now all grown hard, petrified, for want of culture and a congenial soil and climate.” [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human nature's harsh traits can become refined and fruitful with culture and nurturing. **In simple terms:** Nature can be refined with care. Key Takeaway Cultivate culture. Themes human nature growth culture Mood reflective optimistic Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - education - community building - personal development Key Concepts philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - What nurtures positive growth? - How can we transform negative traits? A Different Perspective Cultivation is not guaranteed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Arrested](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrested/) [Arrested Development](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrested-development/) [Branches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/branches/) [Bud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bud/) [Climate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate/) [Conceit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conceit/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Delight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delight/) [Development](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/development/) [Disgusting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disgusting/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Fruit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fruit/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Lifeless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifeless/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Prejudice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prejudice/) [Prejudices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prejudices/) [Prejudices Bristling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prejudices-bristling-4817014/) [Promise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/promise/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Should have](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should-have/) [Soil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soil/) [Sunny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunny/) [Sunny day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunny-day/) [Tears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tears/) [Tendencies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tendencies/) [Thorns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thorns/) [Thorns Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thorns-human-4817015/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Wounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wounds/) ## Related quotes > [Before the bud swells, before the grass springs, before the plough is started, comes the sugar harvest. 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You know, nobody was watching. We weren't getting feedback. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitchell-hurwitz/when-we-were-making-arrested-development-it-was-the-hardest-thing-i-d/) [Mitchell Hurwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitchell-hurwitz/) > [Surely arrested development consists not in refusing to lose old things but in failing to add new things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/surely-arrested-development-consists-not-in-refusing-to-lose-old/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [When I was on 'The Golden Girls,' we'd have eight scenes per show. And when 'Seinfeld' came along, they went to, like, 30 scenes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitchell-hurwitz/when-i-was-on-the-golden-girls-we-d-have-eight-scenes-per-show-and/) [Mitchell Hurwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitchell-hurwitz/) > [The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development in man's moral nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-addiction-to-sports-therefore-in-a-peculiar-degree-marks-an/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [Arrested Development never felt safe. Even the first season, we did thirteen episodes, and we thought we'd never do a back nine. So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-cera/arrested-development-never-felt-safe-even-the-first-season-we-did/) [Michael Cera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-cera/) > [I've been doing It's Aways Sunny for 12 years, and so I have this cable sensibility. 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I've been in the Boom Boom Room in New York, and the kids are going, 'Oh my God,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-grazer/i-ve-been-in-like-kids-clubs-i-ve-been-in-the-boom-boom-room-in-new/) [Brian Grazer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-grazer/) > [I love 'Arrested Development' and 'Veep' and I love Louis C.K. - I love the 'Louie' show, it's great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-rohrbach/i-love-arrested-development-and-veep-and-i-love-louis-c-k-i-love-the/) [Kelly Rohrbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-rohrbach/) ## More by John Burroughs > [As life nears its end with me, I find myself meditating more and more upon the mystery of its nature and origin, yet without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/as-life-nears-its-end-with-me-i-find-myself-meditating-more-and-more/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [Certainly in the United States, you have a constituency in the form of the weapons laboratories, and you also have the branches of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/certainly-in-the-united-states-you-have-a-constituency-in-the-form-of/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [When Darwin published his conclusion that man was descended from an apelike ancestor who was again descended from a still lower type, most people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/when-darwin-published-his-conclusion-that-man-was-descended-from-an/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [Science sees the process of evolution from the outside, as one might a train of cars going by, and resolves it into the physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/science-sees-the-process-of-evolution-from-the-outside-as-one-might-a/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [Maybe that will happen with other countries as well. And so, that's why one of the things that groups like mine that work for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/maybe-that-will-happen-with-other-countries-as-well-and-so-that-s-why/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [One can only learn his powers of action by action, and his powers of thought by thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/one-can-only-learn-his-powers-of-action-by-action-and-his-powers-of/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [I was born with a chronic anxiety about the weather.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/i-was-born-with-a-chronic-anxiety-about-the-weather/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/when-the-woodpecker-is-searching-for-food-or-laying-siege-to-some/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [In what bold relief stand out the lives of all walkers of the snow! The snow is a great tell-tale, and blabs as effectually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/in-what-bold-relief-stand-out-the-lives-of-all-walkers-of-the-snow/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [In October, a maple tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. Even on cloudy days, its presence helps to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/in-october-a-maple-tree-before-your-window-lights-up-your-room-like-a/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [One can return to their place of birth, but one cannot go back to your youth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/one-can-return-to-their-place-of-birth-but-one-cannot-go-back-to-your/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [I still find each day too short..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/i-still-find-each-day-too-short/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [What a severe yet master artist old Winter is... No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/what-a-severe-yet-master-artist-old-winter-is-no-longer-the-canvas/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [Following World War II, the U.S. was the architect of the UN system, and the world financial system, and the Human Rights Declaration, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/following-world-war-ii-the-u-s-was-the-architect-of-the-un-system-and/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) > [“Go to the sea or climb the mountain, and with the ruggedest and the savagest you will find likewise the fairest and the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/go-to-the-sea-or-climb-the-mountain-and-with-the-ruggedest-and-the/) [John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) [Explore all 281 John Burroughs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/) ## More Arrested quotes > [Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/impulse-arrested-spills-over-and-the-flood-is-feeling-the-flood-is/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [On stage you're free. You can say and do things that if you said and did any place else, you'd be arrested.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-williams/on-stage-you-re-free-you-can-say-and-do-things-that-if-you-said-and/) [Robin Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-williams/) > [a TEN-YEAR-OLD lad in Indianapolis who was arrested for picking up coal along the side of railroad tracks is now in jail. If the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-jones/a-ten-year-old-lad-in-indianapolis-who-was-arrested-for-picking-up/) [Mother Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-jones/) > [Fame is like a big eraser. It's strange, now that I'm famous. In my parents' opinion, all the shitty things - all the wreckage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobcat-goldthwait/fame-is-like-a-big-eraser-it-s-strange-now-that-i-m-famous-in-my/) [Bobcat Goldthwait](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobcat-goldthwait/) > [When men are arrested without any legal basis and for political reasons, it's merely a routine, everyday occurrence in Russia, and hardly anyone has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexei-navalny/when-men-are-arrested-without-any-legal-basis-and-for-political/) [Alexei Navalny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexei-navalny/) > [Helen Crawfurd and the Women's Peace Crusade, made a march on the City Chambers, distributing an illegal leaflet in front of police and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-gallacher/helen-crawfurd-and-the-women-s-peace-crusade-made-a-march-on-the-city/) [Willie Gallacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willie-gallacher/) > [I just put myself in a hotel and was smoking coke for a while. 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I'd been an organizer, so many things had changed over those three years \[from 1965 till 1968\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d-been-an-organizer-so-many/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Browse all 480 Arrested quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrested/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless protuberances that tear and wound us, narrow prejudices, bristling conceits that repel and disgust us - are arrested developments, calcified tendencies, buds of promise that should have lifted a branch up into the sunny day with fruit; and flowers to delight the heart of men, but now all grown hard, petrified, for want of culture and a congenial soil and climate.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Burroughs" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sharp-lifeless-protuberances/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Arrested" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sharp-lifeless-protuberances/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/john-burroughs-1157_arrested_how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sha_3009188.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“How many thorns of human nature - hard, sharp, lifeless protuberances that tear and wound us, narrow…” — John Burroughs", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Burroughs", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burroughs/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "How many thorns of human nature...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sharp-lifeless-protuberances/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/how-many-thorns-of-human-nature-hard-sharp-lifeless-protuberances/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```