--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That is the earth, he thought. Not a…" description: "\"That is the earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of a hill, hig..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/orson-scott-card-134_bird_that-is-the-earth-he-thought-not-a-globe_733912.png" --- # That is the earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of… ![“That is the earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of a hill, high in the trees, a grassy slope leading upwards from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs that lived at the border between…” quote by Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/orson-scott-card-134_bird_that-is-the-earth-he-thought-not-a-globe_733912.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/orson-scott-card-134_bird_that-is-the-earth-he-thought-not-a-globe_733912.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/orson-scott-card-134_bird_that-is-the-earth-he-thought-not-a-globe_733912.png) > “That is the earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of a hill, high in the trees, a grassy slope leading upwards from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs that lived at the border between water and sky. Earth was the constant noise of crickets, and winds, and birds” [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The earth is imagined as a forest with a lake and hill, emphasizing natural beauty and harmony. **In simple terms:** Nature is vivid and harmonious. Key Takeaway Appreciate the interconnectedness of ecosystems. Themes nature beauty harmony environment imagination Mood awe contemplative Type descriptive philosophical When to use this quote - environmental education - creative writing - landscape photography - conservation advocacy Key Concepts ecology world‑building sensory description Questions to Reflect On - How does this imagery affect your view of Earth? - What role does nature play in your personal narrative? A Different Perspective Idealized nature may overlook ecological challenges. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Borders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borders/) [Bugs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bugs/) [Cricket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cricket/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Forests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forests/) [Hills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hills/) [Lakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lakes/) [Shining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shining/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) ## Related quotes > [“It was even before he left Earth that he first thought of it as a planet, like any other, not particularly his own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/it-was-even-before-he-left-earth-that-he-first-thought-of-it-as-a/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The sky is more beautiful than earth, and I want the sky, not earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-hegazi/the-sky-is-more-beautiful-than-earth-and-i-want-the-sky-not-earth/) [Sarah Hegazi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-hegazi/) > [“if i were rain, that join sky and earth that otherwise never touch, could i join two hearths as well?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tite-kubo/if-i-were-rain-that-join-sky-and-earth-that-otherwise-never-touch/) [Tite Kubo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tite-kubo/) > [Sky above me,Earth below me,Fire within me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaitlyn/sky-above-me-earth-below-me-fire-within-me/) [Kaitlyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaitlyn/) > [“When he touches me, the sky and the earth switch places.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/autumn-doughton/when-he-touches-me-the-sky-and-the-earth-switch-places/) [Autumn Doughton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/autumn-doughton/) > [Sometimes he could almost forget that it was there, the way you forget about the sky or the earth underfoot, but there were other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-he-could-almost-forget-that-it-was-there-the-way-you-forget/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/thank-god-men-cannot-fly-and-lay-waste-the-sky-as-well-as-the-earth/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“It was Bjørn’s favorite time of evening. The sun hid its fatt butt behind the horizon leaving little more than an ambient glow in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxximillian-dafoe/it-was-bj-rn-s-favorite-time-of-evening-the-sun-hid-its-fatt-butt/) Maxximillian Dafoe > [We are the children equally of the Sky and the Earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-are-the-children-equally-of-the-sky-and-the-earth/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [If I were rain, That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch, Could I join two hearts as well?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tite-kubo/if-i-were-rain-that-joins-sky-and-earth-that-otherwise-never-touch/) [Tite Kubo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tite-kubo/) > [In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-every-landscape-the-point-of-astonishment-is-the-meeting-of-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“Lightning. 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We promise gingerbread, then eat the little brats alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/we-re-like-the-wicked-witch-we-promise-gingerbread-then-eat-the/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“Why did he hesitate? 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There were no games,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/ender-for-the-past-few-months-you-have-been-the-battle-commander-of/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [Science fiction is about what could be but isn't; fantasy is about what couldn't be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/science-fiction-is-about-what-could-be-but-isn-t-fantasy-is-about/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/knowledge-is-just-opinion-that-you-trust-enough-to-act-upon/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“Of course they accused Marcão of having done it without provocation—that’s the way of torturers of every age, to put the blame on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/of-course-they-accused-marc-o-of-having-done-it-without-provocation/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“Civilization is only a pretense; in the crisis, we become mere apes again, forgetting the rational biped of our pretensions and becoming instead the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/civilization-is-only-a-pretense-in-the-crisis-we-become-mere-apes/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“Where did this whole thing begin? If what we think of as reality is just a pattern that somebody brought Outside, and the universe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/where-did-this-whole-thing-begin-if-what-we-think-of-as-reality-is/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) [Explore all 1,158 Orson Scott Card quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) ## More Bird quotes > [And I have been very blessed, having coached some of the greatest that have ever played the game. But if I had to start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/red-auerbach/and-i-have-been-very-blessed-having-coached-some-of-the-greatest-that/) [Red Auerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/red-auerbach/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Set the bird's wings with gold and it will never again soar in thesky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/set-the-bird-s-wings-with-gold-and-it-will-never-again-soar-in-thesky/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [“He unfixes the metal notch and slips his hand around the body of the bird. Feels its heat, its small heart beating. He stares…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-schuyler/he-unfixes-the-metal-notch-and-slips-his-hand-around-the-body-of-the/) Nina Schuyler > [I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-would-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-to-teach-10-000/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-macgill/a-clock-struck-out-the-hour-of-twelve-and-the-bird-in-the-hedgerow/) [Patrick MacGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-macgill/) > [Every wife ought to answer for her man. If the husband be engaged in a seditious club, or drinks mysterious healths, or be frugal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/every-wife-ought-to-answer-for-her-man-if-the-husband-be-engaged-in-a/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [When they started to drain a swamp where birds and fish had lived, for a new housing development down the road from his apartment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maile-meloy/when-they-started-to-drain-a-swamp-where-birds-and-fish-had-lived-for/) [Maile Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maile-meloy/) > [The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-mccullough/the-bird-with-the-thorn-in-its-breast-it-follows-an-immutable-law-it/) [Colleen McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-mccullough/) > [Real like sucks the life out of losers. if you want to fuck with the eagles, you must learn how to fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/real-like-sucks-the-life-out-of-losers-if-you-want-to-fuck-with-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If we studied birds ,maybe we could learn to be free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/if-we-studied-birds-maybe-we-could-learn-to-be-free/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) [Browse all 4,802 Bird quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That is the earth, he thought. 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