--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Human nature will not flourish, any more…" description: "\"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ec/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_birthplace_human-nature-will-not-flourish-any-more_1291892.jpg" --- # Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if… ![“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.” quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ec/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_birthplace_human-nature-will-not-flourish-any-more_1291892.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ec/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_birthplace_human-nature-will-not-flourish-any-more_1291892.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ec/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_birthplace_human-nature-will-not-flourish-any-more_1291892.jpg) > “Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.” [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He warns that staying in the same place for generations depletes vitality; moving brings renewal. **In simple terms:** Staying put harms growth; change revitalizes. Key Takeaway Seek new environments for growth. Themes change generational cycles environment growth adaptation Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - urban relocation - career moves - education abroad Key Concepts soil fertility family legacy migration cultural renewal Questions to Reflect On - What new soil could you plant your roots in? - How do you balance tradition with the need for change? A Different Perspective Change can be disruptive and risky. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Fortune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fortune/) [Generations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generations/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roots/) [Strikes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strikes/) ## Related quotes > [“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhumpa-lahiri/human-nature-will-not-flourish-any-more-than-a-potato-if-it-be/) [Jhumpa Lahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhumpa-lahiri/) > [“We had chosen as our next book club selection Jhumpa Lahiri’s new collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, as we’d both loved her 2003…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-schwalbe/we-had-chosen-as-our-next-book-club-selection-jhumpa-lahiri-s-new/) [Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-schwalbe/) > [“We replanted. The loss was substantial, but it was overshadowed completely by losing you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-diffenbaugh/we-replanted-the-loss-was-substantial-but-it-was-overshadowed/) [Vanessa Diffenbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-diffenbaugh/) > [“The gutted ruins of the Amazing Kingdom were razed, and the land was replanted with native trees, including buttonwoods, pigeon plums, torchwoods, brittle palms,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hiaasen/the-gutted-ruins-of-the-amazing-kingdom-were-razed-and-the-land-was/) [Carl Hiaasen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hiaasen/) > [“The Western world is in need of new churches. In some cases churches must multiply and plant new churches from scratch, while in other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darrin-patrick/the-western-world-is-in-need-of-new-churches-in-some-cases-churches/) [Darrin Patrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darrin-patrick/) > [Truth is the only healthy place from which to speak. Assumption is the birthplace of godless chatter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysa-terkeurst/truth-is-the-only-healthy-place-from-which-to-speak-assumption-is-the/) [Lysa TerKeurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysa-terkeurst/) > [Muslims around the world deserve to see birthplace of Islam represent the ethics of Islam.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamal-khashoggi/muslims-around-the-world-deserve-to-see-birthplace-of-islam-represent/) [Jamal Khashoggi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamal-khashoggi/) > [God said to Abraham: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/god-said-to-abraham-get-thee-out-of-thy-country-and-from-thy-kindred/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [“Our place of birth is not so much as important as our place of berth, yet we can't moore. If we do we know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amah-lambert/our-place-of-birth-is-not-so-much-as-important-as-our-place-of-berth/) [Amah Lambert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amah-lambert/) > [Vulnerability is not about fear and grief and disappointment; it is the birthplace of everything we're hungry for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/vulnerability-is-not-about-fear-and-grief-and-disappointment-it-is/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) > [The convergence of the Rhone and Saone. Paul Bocuse. The birthplace of cinema. Chateauneuf-du-Pape just a few miles down the road. It does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-slatkin/the-convergence-of-the-rhone-and-saone-paul-bocuse-the-birthplace-of/) [Leonard Slatkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-slatkin/) > [It’s a Belgian beer, sweetie. Please tell me you’ve at least heard of it. (Blaine) Boy, I was born in Brussels and the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/it-s-a-belgian-beer-sweetie-please-tell-me-you-ve-at-least-heard-of/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [We are committed to the Common Civil Code, Article 370 and building of a magnificent temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/venkaiah-naidu/we-are-committed-to-the-common-civil-code-article-370-and-building-of/) Venkaiah Naidu > [I grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Harden County, which is not too far from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-cameron/i-grew-up-in-elizabethtown-kentucky-harden-county-which-is-not-too/) [Daniel Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-cameron/) > [Whatever strengthens our local attachments is favorable both to individual and national character, our home, our birthplace, our native land. Think for a while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/whatever-strengthens-our-local-attachments-is-favorable-both-to/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) ## More by Nathaniel Hawthorne > [“there was something of the women molded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it; as men often are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-was-something-of-the-women-molded-into-the-great-stalwart-frame/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The trees reflected in the river - they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-trees-reflected-in-the-river-they-are-unconscious-of-a-spiritual/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-dismaying-thing-about-the-classic-totalitarian-mind-is-that-any/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/my-heart-was-a-habitation-large-enough-for-many-guests-but-lonely-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/wherever-there-is-a-heart-and-an-intellect-the-diseases-of-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-founders-of-a-new-colony-whatever-utopia-of-human-virtue-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Generosity is the flower of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/generosity-is-the-flower-of-justice/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“he seemed to be in quest for mental food, not heart sustenance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/he-seemed-to-be-in-quest-for-mental-food-not-heart-sustenance/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/unfathomable-to-mere-mortals-is-the-lore-of-fiends/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Possibly, he was in a state of second growth and recovery, and was constantly assimilating nutriment for his spirit and intellect from sights, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/possibly-he-was-in-a-state-of-second-growth-and-recovery-and-was/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“What wonder, then, should we be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-wonder-then-should-we-be-frightened-by-the-aspect-of-a-monster/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/as-the-architecture-of-a-country-always-follows-the-earliest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-we-call-real-estate-the-solid-ground-to-build-a-house-on-is-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The bookworm of great libraries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-bookworm-of-great-libraries/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-are-many-things-in-this-world-that-a-child-must-not-ask-about/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) [Explore all 526 Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More Birthplace quotes > [Whatever strengthens our local attachments is favorable both to individual and national character, our home, our birthplace, our native land. Think for a while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/whatever-strengthens-our-local-attachments-is-favorable-both-to/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) > [I grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Harden County, which is not too far from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-cameron/i-grew-up-in-elizabethtown-kentucky-harden-county-which-is-not-too/) [Daniel Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-cameron/) > [We are committed to the Common Civil Code, Article 370 and building of a magnificent temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/venkaiah-naidu/we-are-committed-to-the-common-civil-code-article-370-and-building-of/) Venkaiah Naidu > [It’s a Belgian beer, sweetie. Please tell me you’ve at least heard of it. (Blaine) Boy, I was born in Brussels and the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/it-s-a-belgian-beer-sweetie-please-tell-me-you-ve-at-least-heard-of/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [The convergence of the Rhone and Saone. Paul Bocuse. The birthplace of cinema. Chateauneuf-du-Pape just a few miles down the road. It does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-slatkin/the-convergence-of-the-rhone-and-saone-paul-bocuse-the-birthplace-of/) [Leonard Slatkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-slatkin/) > [Vulnerability is not about fear and grief and disappointment; it is the birthplace of everything we're hungry for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/vulnerability-is-not-about-fear-and-grief-and-disappointment-it-is/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) > [“Our place of birth is not so much as important as our place of berth, yet we can't moore. If we do we know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amah-lambert/our-place-of-birth-is-not-so-much-as-important-as-our-place-of-berth/) [Amah Lambert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amah-lambert/) > [God said to Abraham: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/god-said-to-abraham-get-thee-out-of-thy-country-and-from-thy-kindred/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [Muslims around the world deserve to see birthplace of Islam represent the ethics of Islam.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamal-khashoggi/muslims-around-the-world-deserve-to-see-birthplace-of-islam-represent/) [Jamal Khashoggi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamal-khashoggi/) > [Truth is the only healthy place from which to speak. Assumption is the birthplace of godless chatter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysa-terkeurst/truth-is-the-only-healthy-place-from-which-to-speak-assumption-is-the/) [Lysa TerKeurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysa-terkeurst/) > [Political campaigns are the graveyard of real ideas and the birthplace of empty promises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-heinz/political-campaigns-are-the-graveyard-of-real-ideas-and-the/) [Teresa Heinz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-heinz/) > [Patriotic?” Will looked smug. “I’ll tell you what’s patriotic,” he said. “In honor of my birthplace, I’ve the dragon of Wales tattooed on my—](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/patriotic-will-looked-smug-i-ll-tell-you-what-s-patriotic-he-said-in/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [England really is the birthplace, the heart and soul of football. If Barcelona had Liverpool's fans, or Arsenal's, or United's, we'd have won 20…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xavi/england-really-is-the-birthplace-the-heart-and-soul-of-football-if/) [Xavi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xavi/) > [Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/americanism-is-a-question-of-principle-of-idealism-of-character-it-is/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [I wonder what it's like to be from a state that is spread across a few islands way out in the Pacific Ocean, only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/i-wonder-what-it-s-like-to-be-from-a-state-that-is-spread-across-a/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) Browse all 88 Birthplace quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. 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