--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Now nature is not at variance with art…" description: "\"Now nature is not at variance with art, nor art with nature; they being both the servants of his providence. Art is the perfection of nature. Were the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/thomas-cole-28445_art_now-nature-is-not-at-variance-with-art-n_588313.jpg" --- # Now nature is not at variance with art, nor art with… ![“Now nature is not at variance with art, nor art with nature; they being both the servants of his providence. Art is the perfection of nature. Were the world now as it was the sixth day, there were yet a chaos. Nat, are unconscious of the harmony of creation.” quote by Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/thomas-cole-28445_art_now-nature-is-not-at-variance-with-art-n_588313.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/thomas-cole-28445_art_now-nature-is-not-at-variance-with-art-n_588313.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbe/thomas-cole-28445_art_now-nature-is-not-at-variance-with-art-n_588313.jpg) > “Now nature is not at variance with art, nor art with nature; they being both the servants of his providence. Art is the perfection of nature. Were the world now as it was the sixth day, there were yet a chaos. Nat, are unconscious of the harmony of creation.” [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art and nature are both expressions of divine order; art refines nature, revealing underlying harmony. **In simple terms:** Art refines nature, showing divine order. Key Takeaway Seek harmony between creation and design. Themes art divine order harmony Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - urban planning - environmental design - education - public policy Key Concepts aesthetics theology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can design honor natural systems? - What limits arise when idealizing nature? A Different Perspective Art may idealize nature, overlooking practical constraints. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaos/) [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harmony/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature and art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-and-art/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Perfection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfection/) [Providence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/providence/) [Servant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servant/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [If you work with love and intelligence, you develop a kind of armour against people's opinions, just because of the sincerity of your love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-van-gogh/if-you-work-with-love-and-intelligence-you-develop-a-kind-of-armour/) [Vincent Van Gogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-van-gogh/) > [The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-stars-awaken-a-certain-reverence-because-though-always-present-2/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“If the nature of the world is revealed to man through religion, then gardens, as places for contemplation, should symbolise the perfection of nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-turner/if-the-nature-of-the-world-is-revealed-to-man-through-religion-then/) [Tom Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-turner/) > [Art is the perfection of nature, ... nature is the art of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-browne/art-is-the-perfection-of-nature-nature-is-the-art-of-god/) [Thomas Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-browne/) > [Gardens are the result of a collaboration between art and nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-hobhouse/gardens-are-the-result-of-a-collaboration-between-art-and-nature/) [Penelope Hobhouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-hobhouse/) > [I believe that any form of art is a species of exploration and transgression. ... 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I do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-arp/i-like-nature-but-not-its-substitutes-mondrian-opposed-art-to-nature/) [Hans Arp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-arp/) > [If I ever have a conflict between art and nature, I let art win.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bateman/if-i-ever-have-a-conflict-between-art-and-nature-i-let-art-win/) [Robert Bateman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bateman/) > [“Machines, he said, are an effect of art, which is nature’s ape, and they reproduce not its forms but the operation itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/machines-he-said-are-an-effect-of-art-which-is-nature-s-ape-and-they/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [Art is Nature made by Man / To Man the interpreter of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bulwer-lytton-1st-earl-of-lytton/art-is-nature-made-by-man-to-man-the-interpreter-of-god/) [Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bulwer-lytton-1st-earl-of-lytton/) > [Art is not nature... There was a lot more to be got out of color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bonnard/art-is-not-nature-there-was-a-lot-more-to-be-got-out-of-color/) [Pierre Bonnard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bonnard/) > [All we have, it seems to me, is the beauty of art and nature and life, and the love which that beauty inspires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/all-we-have-it-seems-to-me-is-the-beauty-of-art-and-nature-and-life/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [A story is told that Whistler once painted a tiny picture of a spray of roses. The artistry involved in the picture was magnificent.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sterling-w-sill/a-story-is-told-that-whistler-once-painted-a-tiny-picture-of-a-spray/) [Sterling W Sill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sterling-w-sill/) > [Nothing is lost and nothing is created in the operations of art as those of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-pasteur/nothing-is-lost-and-nothing-is-created-in-the-operations-of-art-as/) [Louis Pasteur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-pasteur/) ## More by Thomas Cole > [The sky is the soul of all scenery. It makes the earth lovely at sunrise and splendid at sunset. In the one it breathes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/the-sky-is-the-soul-of-all-scenery-it-makes-the-earth-lovely-at/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [The ills of discrimination are still with us. We have to continue the tenacity and vigilance of the 1960s. Racial understanding is not something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/the-ills-of-discrimination-are-still-with-us-we-have-to-continue-the/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [Nothing is invented and brought to perfection all at once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/nothing-is-invented-and-brought-to-perfection-all-at-once/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [. . .nature is still predominant, and there are those who regret that with the improvements of cultivation the sublimity of the wilderness should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/nature-is-still-predominant-and-there-are-those-who-regret-that-with/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [Overall, rocks, wood and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its innermost depths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/overall-rocks-wood-and-water-brooded-the-spirit-of-repose-and-the/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [And rural nature is full of the same quickening spirit-it is, in fact, the exhaustless mine from which the poet and the painter have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/and-rural-nature-is-full-of-the-same-quickening-spirit-it-is-in-fact/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [None know how often the hand of God is seen in a wilderness but them that rove it for a man's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/none-know-how-often-the-hand-of-god-is-seen-in-a-wilderness-but-them/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [I never succeed in painting scenes, however beautiful, immediately upon returning from them. I must wait for a time to draw a veil over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/i-never-succeed-in-painting-scenes-however-beautiful-immediately-upon/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [Amid those scenes of solitude... the mind is cast into the contemplation of eternal things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/amid-those-scenes-of-solitude-the-mind-is-cast-into-the-contemplation/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [To walk with nature as a poet is the necessary condition of a perfect artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/to-walk-with-nature-as-a-poet-is-the-necessary-condition-of-a-perfect/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [“Those scenes of solitude from which the hand of nature have never been lifted, affect the mind with a more deep-toned emotion than aught…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/those-scenes-of-solitude-from-which-the-hand-of-nature-have-never/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [It was not that the jagged precipices were lofty, that the encircling woods were the dimmest shade, or that the waters were profoundly deep;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-cole/it-was-not-that-the-jagged-precipices-were-lofty-that-the-encircling/) [Thomas Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-cole/) > [It is the sky that makes the earth so lovely at sunrise, and so splendid at sunset. 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Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. 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