--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Meteors are not needed less than…" description: "\"Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.\" — Robinson Jeffers" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg" --- # Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine… ![“Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.” quote by Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg) > “Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.” [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The line suggests that natural grandeur (mountains) is essential, while fleeting phenomena (meteors) are less needed, implying permanence over transience. **In simple terms:** Mountains matter more than meteors. Key Takeaway Value lasting foundations over fleeting spectacles. Themes nature permanence value Mood contemplative philosophical Type nature metaphorical When to use this quote - mountain climbing - urban planning - environmental policy - personal goals - null Key Concepts existentialism environmentalism Questions to Reflect On - What lasting foundations do you prioritize? - How do you balance fleeting successes with enduring values? A Different Perspective Transient achievements may be overvalued. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Republic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/republic/) [Shining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shining/) ## Related quotes > [You making haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it stubbornly long or suddenly A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/you-making-haste-on-decay-not-blameworthy-life-is-good-be-it/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire, I And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/while-this-america-settles-in-the-mould-of-its-vulgarity-heavily/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“If you shine, you will be discovered soon; even if you are a beautiful hidden lake amongst the mountains, once you shine, you shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-you-shine-you-will-be-discovered-soon-even-if-you-are-a-beautiful/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/that-public-men-publish-falsehoods-is-nothing-new-that-america-must/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-world-is-perishing-from-an-orgy-of-self-sacrificing/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the same state; but that which is conceived by opinion with the help…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/that-which-is-apprehended-by-intelligence-and-reason-is-always-in-the/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Take heed to yourselves, lest you perish while you call upon others to take heed of perishing, and lest you famish yourselves while you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/take-heed-to-yourselves-lest-you-perish-while-you-call-upon-others-to/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Go on, dear brother; but an inch of time remains, and then eternal ages roll on for ever--but an inch on which we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-murray-m-cheyne/go-on-dear-brother-but-an-inch-of-time-remains-and-then-eternal-ages/) [Robert Murray M'Cheyne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-murray-m-cheyne/) > [Letting go all else, cling to the following few truths. Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant: all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/letting-go-all-else-cling-to-the-following-few-truths-remember-that/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [I do now most heartily desire to live but to exalt Jesus; to live preaching and to die preaching; to preach to perishing sinners…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-grattan-guinness/i-do-now-most-heartily-desire-to-live-but-to-exalt-jesus-to-live/) Henry Grattan Guinness > [In the coming days and weeks, Laila would scramble frantically to commit it all to memory, what happened next. Like an art lover running…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/in-the-coming-days-and-weeks-laila-would-scramble-frantically-to/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [Who shall blame him? Who will not secretly rejoice when the hero puts his armour off, and halts by the window and gazes at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/who-shall-blame-him-who-will-not-secretly-rejoice-when-the-hero-puts/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [When the Gauls laid waste Rome, they found the senators clothed in their robes, and seated in stern tranquillity in their curule chairs; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/when-the-gauls-laid-waste-rome-they-found-the-senators-clothed-in/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Loving and perishing: it's been a rhyme all these eternities. The will to love: that is, also being willing to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/loving-and-perishing-it-s-been-a-rhyme-all-these-eternities-the-will/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [In revolt against this new and very evil thing came the republicanism of the eighteenth century, inspired and directed in large measure by members…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-adams-cram/in-revolt-against-this-new-and-very-evil-thing-came-the-republicanism/) [Ralph Adams Cram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-adams-cram/) ## More by Robinson Jeffers > [A little too abstract, a little too wise, It is time for us to kiss the earth again, It is time to let the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/a-little-too-abstract-a-little-too-wise-it-is-time-for-us-to-kiss-the/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire, I And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/while-this-america-settles-in-the-mould-of-its-vulgarity-heavily/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Happy people die whole, they are all dissolved in a moment, they have had what they wanted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/happy-people-die-whole-they-are-all-dissolved-in-a-moment-they-have/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“The Atlantic is a stormy moat, and the Mediterranean, The blue pool in the old garden, More than five thousand years has drunk sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/the-atlantic-is-a-stormy-moat-and-the-mediterranean-the-blue-pool-in/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“The broken pillar of the wing jags from the clotted shoulder, The wing trails like a banner in defeat, No more to use the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/the-broken-pillar-of-the-wing-jags-from-the-clotted-shoulder-the-wing/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [As for me, I would rather be a worm in a wild apple than a son of man. But we are what we are,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/as-for-me-i-would-rather-be-a-worm-in-a-wild-apple-than-a-son-of-man/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Oh heavy change. The world deteriorates like a rotting apple, worms and a skin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/oh-heavy-change-the-world-deteriorates-like-a-rotting-apple-worms-and/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Truly men hate the truth; they'd liefer meet a tiger on the road.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/truly-men-hate-the-truth-they-d-liefer-meet-a-tiger-on-the-road/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [I've changed my ways a little, I cannot now Run with you in the evenings along the shore, Except in a kind of dream,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/i-ve-changed-my-ways-a-little-i-cannot-now-run-with-you-in-the/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Why does insanity always twist the great answers? Because only tormented persons want truth. Man is an animal like other animals, wants food and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/why-does-insanity-always-twist-the-great-answers-because-only/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“One existence, one music, one organism, one life, one God: star-fire and rock-strength, the sea's cold flow And man's dark soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/one-existence-one-music-one-organism-one-life-one-god-star-fire-and/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [We might remember ... not to fear death; it is the only way to be cleansed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/we-might-remember-not-to-fear-death-it-is-the-only-way-to-be-cleansed/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Hear the music, the thunder of the wings. Love the wild swan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/hear-the-music-the-thunder-of-the-wings-love-the-wild-swan/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [If millions are born millions must die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/if-millions-are-born-millions-must-die/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/that-public-men-publish-falsehoods-is-nothing-new-that-america-must/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) [Explore all 79 Robinson Jeffers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) ## More Meteors quotes > [Meslier was the most singular phenomenon ever seen among all the meteors fatal to the Christian religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/meslier-was-the-most-singular-phenomenon-ever-seen-among-all-the/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like fireworks, quick rips in the seam of the dark... Every second, another streak of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/the-night-is-falling-down-around-us-meteors-rain-like-fireworks-quick/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [But to carve the Grand Canyon, Earth required millions of years. To excavate Meteor Crater, the universe, using a sixty-thousand-ton asteroid traveling upward of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/but-to-carve-the-grand-canyon-earth-required-millions-of-years-to/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Lights come and go in the night sky. Men, troubled at last by the things they build, may toss in their sleep and dream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/lights-come-and-go-in-the-night-sky-men-troubled-at-last-by-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Falling stars are high examples sent To warn, not lure. Gross fancy says they are Substantial meteors; but that is not so. They are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-austin/falling-stars-are-high-examples-sent-to-warn-not-lure-gross-fancy/) [Alfred Austin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-austin/) > [They are so confident that they will run on forever. But they won't run on. They don't know that this is all one huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/they-are-so-confident-that-they-will-run-on-forever-but-they-won-t/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [So all night long the storm roared on: The morning broke without a sun; In tiny spherule traced with lines Of Nature’s geometric signs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-greenleaf-whittier/so-all-night-long-the-storm-roared-on-the-morning-broke-without-a-sun/) [John Greenleaf Whittier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-greenleaf-whittier/) > [“First we find a buried star and now we go to dig up a mint-new human”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/first-we-find-a-buried-star-and-now-we-go-to-dig-up-a-mint-new-human/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [Great men are meteors, consuming themselves to light the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/great-men-are-meteors-consuming-themselves-to-light-the-world/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [Thoughts are like stars in the firmament; some are fixed, others like the wandering planets, others again are only like meteors. Understanding is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cavendish/thoughts-are-like-stars-in-the-firmament-some-are-fixed-others-like/) [Margaret Cavendish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cavendish/) > [I would that we were, my beloved, white birds on the foam of the sea! We tire of the flame of the meteor, before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-that-we-were-my-beloved-white-birds-on-the-foam-of-the-sea-we/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Humanity is creating an extinction event that will make every war ever fought a footnote to history. We belong to the only generation in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louie-psihoyos/humanity-is-creating-an-extinction-event-that-will-make-every-war/) [Louie Psihoyos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louie-psihoyos/) > [Better was it to go unknown and leave behind you an arch, then to burn like a meteor and leave no dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/better-was-it-to-go-unknown-and-leave-behind-you-an-arch-then-to-burn/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [There are many ways of seeing the world. You can hang upside down from a meteor, volunteer to be the fourth stage of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-palin/there-are-many-ways-of-seeing-the-world-you-can-hang-upside-down-from/) [Michael Palin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-palin/) > [To harden the earth the rocks took charge: instantly they grew wings: the rocks that soared: the survivors flew up the lightning bolt, screamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/to-harden-the-earth-the-rocks-took-charge-instantly-they-grew-wings/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) Browse all 88 Meteors quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robinson Jeffers" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountains-shine-perishing-republic/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Meteors" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountains-shine-perishing-republic/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/669/robinson-jeffers-8592_meteors_meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountai_2634950.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.” — Robinson Jeffers", "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": "Robinson Jeffers", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Meteors are not needed less than...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountains-shine-perishing-republic/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/meteors-are-not-needed-less-than-mountains-shine-perishing-republic/#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 } } ] } ```