--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The earth is not our home. We came from…" description: "\"“The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to that condition our nostalgia should turn. Why would anyone care about this dim bulb in the bla..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png" --- # The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to… ![“The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to that condition our nostalgia should turn. Why would anyone care about this dim bulb in the blackness of space? The earth produced us, or at least subsidized our evolution. Is it really entitled to receive a pardon, let alone the sacrifice of…” quote by Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png) > ““The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to that condition our nostalgia should turn. Why would anyone care about this dim bulb in the blackness of space? The earth produced us, or at least subsidized our evolution. Is it really entitled to receive a pardon, let alone the sacrifice of human lives, for this original sin—a capital crime in reverse (very much in the same way that reproduction makes one an accessory before the fact to an individual’s death)? Someone once said that nature abhors a vacuum. This is precisely why nature should be abhorred. Instead, the nonhuman environment is simultaneously extolled and ravaged by a company of poor players who can no longer act naturally. It is one thing for the flora and fauna to feed and fight and breed in an unthinking continuance of their existence. It is quite another for us to do so in defiance of our own minds, which over and again pose the same question: “What are we still doing in this horrible place?”” [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human existence is a fleeting, insignificant blip in a vast, indifferent cosmos, prompting existential dread. **In simple terms:** Life is brief and insignificant. Key Takeaway Reflect on humanity’s place. Themes existentialism environmentalism nihilism Mood somber introspective Type existential critical When to use this quote - environmental policy - philosophical inquiry - artistic expression Key Concepts cosmology ethics Questions to Reflect On - What responsibilities do we have to non‑human life? - How does cosmic insignificance affect moral choices? A Different Perspective Focusing solely on human concerns can blind us to broader ecological responsibilities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Flora and fauna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flora-and-fauna/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nihilism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nihilism/) ## Related quotes > [“As the poet Alexander Pope said: Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/as-the-poet-alexander-pope-said-nature-and-nature-s-laws-lay-hid-in/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [Indeed, if "biology is chemistry with history," as somebody has said, then nature writing is biology with love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/indeed-if-biology-is-chemistry-with-history-as-somebody-has-said-then/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [“Look at those vines,' he said. 'Nature is wearing her prettiest clothes.' The effect of this unexpectedly poetic observation was slight spoiled when Massot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-mayle/look-at-those-vines-he-said-nature-is-wearing-her-prettiest-clothes/) [Peter Mayle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-mayle/) > [For awhile the only thing people were talking to me about my music, that's all they ever said: 'You must be a nature lover.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-elverum/for-awhile-the-only-thing-people-were-talking-to-me-about-my-music/) [Phil Elverum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-elverum/) > [It has sometimes been said that we find nowhere in nature an analogue of the difference between happens and is, on the one hand,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-kohler/it-has-sometimes-been-said-that-we-find-nowhere-in-nature-an-analogue/) [Wolfgang Kohler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-kohler/) > [At the very simplest, I think as Van Gogh said and St Francis would have said, we must find nature. Just to be in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-leunig/at-the-very-simplest-i-think-as-van-gogh-said-and-st-francis-would/) [Michael Leunig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-leunig/) > [Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that nature is usually wrong...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-whistler/nature-is-very-rarely-right-to-such-an-extent-even-that-it-might/) [James Whistler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-whistler/) > [The earth is full. Go home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/psyche-zeroh/the-earth-is-full-go-home/) Psyche\_Zeroh > [Look up in the sky see the clouds the beautiful colors, the birds in the trees, whistle beautiful rhythm organized song's! The Sun lit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-rambharack/look-up-in-the-sky-see-the-clouds-the-beautiful-colors-the-birds-in/) [Glen Rambharack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-rambharack/) > [The earth was our home, she would have said, but no less was it home to the oxen that pulled our plows or the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eknath-easwaran/the-earth-was-our-home-she-would-have-said-but-no-less-was-it-home-to/) [Eknath Easwaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eknath-easwaran/) > [“The Peace Panda Says...The whole planet we call Earth is our home and it's inhabitants...all our neighbors!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-pina/the-peace-panda-says-the-whole-planet-we-call-earth-is-our-home-and/) [Timothy Pina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-pina/) > [I still think we are smart enough to not destroy planet Earth, our only home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-goodall/i-still-think-we-are-smart-enough-to-not-destroy-planet-earth-our/) [Jane Goodall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-goodall/) > [The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/the-earth-our-home-is-beginning-to-look-more-and-more-like-an-immense/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [Through no divine design or cosmic plan, we have inherited the mantle of life's caretaker on the earth, the only home we have ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/through-no-divine-design-or-cosmic-plan-we-have-inherited-the-mantle/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [If we can choose where to cry, at home or with a few people who will be fully understanding, perhaps we will feel easier.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-whitmore-hickman/if-we-can-choose-where-to-cry-at-home-or-with-a-few-people-who-will/) [Martha Whitmore Hickman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-whitmore-hickman/) ## More by Thomas Ligotti > [“Subsequently there ensues an epoch of complex, proliferating intrigues and conspiracies among the ranks of double agents, whose agendas become so densely intertwined that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/subsequently-there-ensues-an-epoch-of-complex-proliferating-intrigues/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The point that in the absence of birth nobody exists who can be deprived of happiness is terribly conspicuous. For optimists, this fact plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-point-that-in-the-absence-of-birth-nobody-exists-who-can-be/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The worst fear of the race yes, the world suddenly transformed into a senseless nightmare, horrible dissolution of things. Nothing compares, even oblivion is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-worst-fear-of-the-race-yes-the-world-suddenly-transformed-into-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“In supernatural horror stories, however, magical thinking is a completely different matter. Those characters contending with what seems to be the work of magic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/in-supernatural-horror-stories-however-magical-thinking-is-a/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“When you are alone in the wilderness, opinions or beliefs of any kind are dropped as the absurd accoutrements they are. But after being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/when-you-are-alone-in-the-wilderness-opinions-or-beliefs-of-any-kind/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“There seems to be an inborn drive in all human beings not to live in a steady emotional state, which would suggest that such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/there-seems-to-be-an-inborn-drive-in-all-human-beings-not-to-live-in/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [Nature proceeds by blunders; that is its way. It is also ours. So if we have blundered by regarding consciousness as a blunder, why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/nature-proceeds-by-blunders-that-is-its-way-it-is-also-ours-so-if-we/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [We live in a permanent state of bad faith, a mutual representation of ourselves to one another for the sake of remaining sane and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/we-live-in-a-permanent-state-of-bad-faith-a-mutual-representation-of/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The darkness of the grotesque is an immortal enigma: in all legends of the dead, in all the tales of creatures of the night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-darkness-of-the-grotesque-is-an-immortal-enigma-in-all-legends-of/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“If truth is what you seek, then the examined life will only take you on a long ride to the limits of solitude and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/if-truth-is-what-you-seek-then-the-examined-life-will-only-take-you/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The dismembered limbs of dolls and puppets are strewn about everywhere. Posters, signs, billboards, and leaflets of various sorts are scattered around like playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-dismembered-limbs-of-dolls-and-puppets-are-strewn-about/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“As I drifted along with my bodiless invisibility, I felt myself more and more becoming an empty, floating shape, seeing without being seen and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/as-i-drifted-along-with-my-bodiless-invisibility-i-felt-myself-more/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“The lessons in measurement of cloacal forces. Time as a flow of sewage. The excrement of space, scatology of creation. The voiding of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-lessons-in-measurement-of-cloacal-forces-time-as-a-flow-of-sewage/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [And the worst possible thing we could know — worse than knowing of our descent from a mass of microorganisms — is that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/and-the-worst-possible-thing-we-could-know-worse-than-knowing-of-our/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“Only catatonics and coma patients can persevere in a dignified withdrawal from life’s rattle and hum. Without a “yes” in our hearts, nothing would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/only-catatonics-and-coma-patients-can-persevere-in-a-dignified/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) [Explore all 187 Thomas Ligotti quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) ## More Flora and fauna quotes > [I recycle and try to be nice to the earth. But flora and fauna have always interested me, and it is because of so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/i-recycle-and-try-to-be-nice-to-the-earth-but-flora-and-fauna-have/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [“There can be no doubt that the existing Fauna and Flora is but the last term of a long series of equally numerous contemporary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-henry-huxley/there-can-be-no-doubt-that-the-existing-fauna-and-flora-is-but-the/) [Thomas Henry Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-henry-huxley/) > [“A mere sixty-five million years ago (less than two percent of Earth’s past), a ten-trillion-ton asteroid hit what is now the Yucatan Peninsula and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/a-mere-sixty-five-million-years-ago-less-than-two-percent-of-earth-s/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [The original quality in any man of imagination is imagery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-original-quality-in-any-man-of-imagination-is-imagery/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The human life-cycle is no different than the 4 season changes, here on Earth We have birth(Spring), maturity(Summer), old age(Fall), and death(Winter). This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yourmaj3sty/the-human-life-cycle-is-no-different-than-the-4-season-changes-here/) YourMaj3sty > [Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race. . . Let us resolve to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-sloane-coffin/patriotism-at-the-expense-of-another-nation-is-as-wicked-as-racism-at/) [William Sloane Coffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-sloane-coffin/) > [“I named you Fauna because I loved Robinson Jeffers’ poem about Flora and Fauna. I asked that they keep that name. I wanted only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fauna-hodel/i-named-you-fauna-because-i-loved-robinson-jeffers-poem-about-flora/) Fauna Hodel > [“Do you like flora and fauna? How about plants and animals? Because we have more of that beautiful crap than we know what to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-nissan/do-you-like-flora-and-fauna-how-about-plants-and-animals-because-we/) [Colin Nissan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-nissan/) > [I do remain optimistic that one day the world will realise that carbon dioxide is more of a friend than an enemy to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-minchin/i-do-remain-optimistic-that-one-day-the-world-will-realise-that/) [Nick Minchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-minchin/) > [“In 1995, the gray wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park after a seventy-year hiatus. Scientists expected an ecological ripple effect, but the size…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-batterson/in-1995-the-gray-wolf-was-reintroduced-to-yellowstone-national-park/) [Mark Batterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-batterson/) > [“He loved Minnesota’s flora and fauna and seemed ill-suited as either a fawner or floorer, a”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/he-loved-minnesota-s-flora-and-fauna-and-seemed-ill-suited-as-either/) [Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/) > [Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-strangeness-and-wonder-of/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [There is at the back of every artist’s mind something like a pattern and a type of architecture. The original quality in any man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-at-the-back-of-every-artist-s-mind-something-like-a-pattern/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“But the most profound irony is currently on display at the very site of Ford’s most ambitious attempt to realize his pastoralist vision. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-grandin/but-the-most-profound-irony-is-currently-on-display-at-the-very-site/) [Greg Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-grandin/) > [For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by 'Africa,' by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/for-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-have-been-passionately-intrigued-by/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) [Browse all 33 Flora and fauna quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flora-and-fauna/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to that condition our nostalgia should turn. Why would anyone care about this dim bulb in the blackness of space? The earth produced us, or at least subsidized our evolution. Is it really entitled to receive a pardon, let alone the sacrifice of human lives, for this original sin—a capital crime in reverse (very much in the same way that reproduction makes one an accessory before the fact to an individual’s death)? Someone once said that nature abhors a vacuum. This is precisely why nature should be abhorred. Instead, the nonhuman environment is simultaneously extolled and ravaged by a company of poor players who can no longer act naturally. It is one thing for the flora and fauna to feed and fight and breed in an unthinking continuance of their existence. It is quite another for us to do so in defiance of our own minds, which over and again pose the same question: “What are we still doing in this horrible place?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Ligotti" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-nothing-and-to-that-condition/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Flora and fauna" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-nothing-and-to-that-condition/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d2/thomas-ligotti-2073_flora-and-fauna_the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-n_1693477.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The earth is not our home. We came from nothing, and to that condition our nostalgia should turn. Why would…” — Thomas Ligotti", "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": "Thomas Ligotti", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The earth is not our home....", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-nothing-and-to-that-condition/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/the-earth-is-not-our-home-we-came-from-nothing-and-to-that-condition/#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 } } ] } ```