--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Nature will not be conquered, but gives…" description: "\"Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her, bathes in her seas, sails her rivers, camps in h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png" --- # Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to… ![“Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her, bathes in her seas, sails her rivers, camps in her woods, and with no mercenary ends, accepts all.” quote by John Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png) > “Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her, bathes in her seas, sails her rivers, camps in her woods, and with no mercenary ends, accepts all.” [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. Nature offers itself freely to those who love and respect it, not to exploiters. **In simple terms:** Nature gives itself to true lovers, not mercenaries. Key Takeaway Cultivate respect and love for nature. Themes environmental stewardship spiritual connection humility Mood contemplative reverent Type philosophical nature writing When to use this quote - hiking - conservation work - gardening - mindful travel Key Concepts ecology philosophy romanticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you show love for nature daily? - What does “no mercenary ends” mean to you? A Different Perspective It may romanticize nature, overlooking ecological crises. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lover/) [Lovers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lovers/) [Mercenary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mercenary/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivers/) [Sea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea/) [True lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-lover/) [True lovers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-lovers/) [Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/woods/) ## Related quotes > [The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/the-true-lover-of-knowledge-naturally-strives-for-truth-and-is-not/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [“Beauty is an illusion, created by Mother Nature to drive the human species in the path of reproduction. In reality, beauty is irrelevant to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/beauty-is-an-illusion-created-by-mother-nature-to-drive-the-human/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Queen Guenever, for whom I make here a little mention, that while she lived she was a true lover, and therefore she had a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/queen-guenever-for-whom-i-make-here-a-little-mention-that-while-she/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The most crucial thing to know about true love is that, it is not something you can find, rather you need to build it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-most-crucial-thing-to-know-about-true-love-is-that-it-is-not/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Beauty is irrelevant to human life, especially in a relationship. What you today perceive as beautiful and special, over time, becomes not so special.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/beauty-is-irrelevant-to-human-life-especially-in-a-relationship-what/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Like the musician, the painter, the poet and the rest, the true lover of flowers is born, not made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celia-thaxter/like-the-musician-the-painter-the-poet-and-the-rest-the-true-lover-of/) [Celia Thaxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celia-thaxter/) > [Your earthly lover can be charming and coquettish but never very faithful. The true lover is the one who on your final day opens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/your-earthly-lover-can-be-charming-and-coquettish-but-never-very/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [Love remains a secret even when spoken, for only a true lover truly knows that he is loved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/love-remains-a-secret-even-when-spoken-for-only-a-true-lover-truly/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [And as he held his first true lover against him, feeling that familiar difference in their heights and smelling that wonderful cologne, part of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/and-as-he-held-his-first-true-lover-against-him-feeling-that-familiar/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [“It is not beauty that keeps a relationship alive, it is attachment. Without attachment, a naked body is merely a lifeless sex toy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/it-is-not-beauty-that-keeps-a-relationship-alive-it-is-attachment/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [your concert-goer, though he feed upon symphony as a lamb upon milk, is no true lover if he play no instrument. Your true lover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-drinker-bowen/your-concert-goer-though-he-feed-upon-symphony-as-a-lamb-upon-milk-is/) [Catherine Drinker Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-drinker-bowen/) > [“Love is not the primeval surge of libidinal lust that a person receives when meeting a suitable partner for the first time. Love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/love-is-not-the-primeval-surge-of-libidinal-lust-that-a-person/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [The True Lover is the one who realizes that Loyalty must go hand in hand with Freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-true-lover-is-the-one-who-realizes-that-loyalty-must-go-hand-in/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [A true Lover is proved such by his pain of Heart! No sickness is there like sickness of Heart!!!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/a-true-lover-is-proved-such-by-his-pain-of-heart-no-sickness-is-there/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [The true lover realizes that freedom is needed for loyalty to blossom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-true-lover-realizes-that-freedom-is-needed-for-loyalty-to-blossom/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) ## 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 Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! It is the jester! A voice from the Void, to cheer poor Cicero! I accept your gift, dearest Night Mother.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/laughing-laughing-laughing-laughing-it-is-the-jester-a-voice-from-the/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [This duo inside of me causes the perfect opportunity to live and learn twice as fast as those who choose to accept simplicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/this-duo-inside-of-me-causes-the-perfect-opportunity-to-live-and/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [Don't be bitter. Everybody suffers. If you can accept your suffering then you will understand other people better. Be grateful for pain. Love life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/don-t-be-bitter-everybody-suffers-if-you-can-accept-your-suffering/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [It takes an unusually philosophic mind to accept that all one’s suffering might be to no end, really, in the larger scheme of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-takes-an-unusually-philosophic-mind-to-accept-that-all-one-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Even with clothing naked animals, there were people who wanted to send in money. A woman in Santa Barbara, California, sent a $40,000 check.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-abel/even-with-clothing-naked-animals-there-were-people-who-wanted-to-send/) [Alan Abel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-abel/) > [Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/society-understands-the-architecture-of-academia-and-knows-there-are/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [Losing someone is easy, but accepting it is hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/losing-someone-is-easy-but-accepting-it-is-hard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/and-so-he-tried-to-accept-the-ache-in-his-heart-as-what-dr-larch/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [I think what was special about 'Music by Prudence' was the classic story of the title subject's life path - from being an outcast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-think-what-was-special-about-music-by-prudence-was-the-classic/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [As my films are born at the moment when they are reflected into another person's mind and memories, there are no misconceptions. I totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pirjo-honkasalo/as-my-films-are-born-at-the-moment-when-they-are-reflected-into/) [Pirjo Honkasalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pirjo-honkasalo/) Browse all 6,788 Accepting quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her, bathes in her seas, sails her rivers, camps in her woods, and with no mercenary ends, accepts all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Burroughs" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-herself-freely-to-her-true/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accepting" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-herself-freely-to-her-true/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/john-burroughs-1157_accepting_nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-h_2792311.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her…” — 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": "Nature will not be conquered, but...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-herself-freely-to-her-true/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burroughs/nature-will-not-be-conquered-but-gives-herself-freely-to-her-true/#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 } } ] } ```