--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Nature in her unfathomable designs had…" description: "\"Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png" --- # Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay… ![“Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other's being but how or why, no mortal may ever know.” quote by William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png) > “Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other's being but how or why, no mortal may ever know.” [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It describes nature as a mysterious blend of elements that are inseparably linked, shaping each other's existence beyond human comprehension. **In simple terms:** Nature’s elements are intertwined and beyond full human understanding. Key Takeaway Accept mystery and interconnectedness. Themes philosophy nature mystery interconnectedness Mood wonderful thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - contemplation - scientific research - environmental policy - creative writing - spiritual practice Key Concepts metaphysics complex systems human limitation Questions to Reflect On - How does recognizing interdependence affect our actions? - What mysteries of nature remain unsolved? A Different Perspective Human knowledge may eventually uncover some links. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mortals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortals/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [ There's \[in Outcast\] so much for my ear, brain and mind and body to gain. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eyedea/there-s-in-outcast-so-much-for-my-ear-brain-and-mind-and-body-to-gain/) [Eyedea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eyedea/) > [“The distinction between diseases of "brain" and "mind," between "neurological" problems and "psychological" or "psychiatric" ones, is an unfortunate cultural inheritance that permeates society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ant-nio-r-dam-sio/the-distinction-between-diseases-of-brain-and-mind-between/) [António R. Damásio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ant-nio-r-dam-sio/) > [You have a brain and mind of your own. Use it, and reach your own decisions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/you-have-a-brain-and-mind-of-your-own-use-it-and-reach-your-own/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [“Also bearing witness to the unbearable nature of the vulnerability experienced by peer-oriented kids is the preponderance of vulnerability-quelling drugs. Peer-oriented kids will do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/also-bearing-witness-to-the-unbearable-nature-of-the-vulnerability/) [Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/) > [The brain is an immensely complex organ, and many mysteries remain. Exactly how brain and mind or soma and psyche are related is one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/the-brain-is-an-immensely-complex-organ-and-many-mysteries-remain/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [Daniel Levitin takes the most sophisticated ideas that exist about the brain and mind, applies them to the most emotionally direct art we have,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-gopnik/daniel-levitin-takes-the-most-sophisticated-ideas-that-exist-about/) [Adam Gopnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-gopnik/) > [You are the mystery incarnating itself, and it's beautiful when you remember. It's also painful and awesome and it contains unbearable beauty and unfathomable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/you-are-the-mystery-incarnating-itself-and-it-s-beautiful-when-you/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-castaneda/for-me-the-world-is-weird-because-it-is-stupendous-awesome-mysterious/) [Carlos Castaneda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-castaneda/) > [Every human has an unfathomable gift that only meeting life head on will reveal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/every-human-has-an-unfathomable-gift-that-only-meeting-life-head-on/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/carefully-study-the-well-being-of-your-men-and-do-not-overtax-them/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [Unfathomable Sea! whose waves are years, Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe Are brackish with the salt of human tears! Thou shoreless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/unfathomable-sea-whose-waves-are-years-ocean-of-time-whose-waters-of/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [The weathercocks on spires and housetops were mysterious with hints of stormy wind, and pointed, like so many ghostly fingers, out to dangerous seas,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-weathercocks-on-spires-and-housetops-were-mysterious-with-hints/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [ \[T\]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have from those unfathomable regions are by… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/t-here-are-depths-of-thousands-of-miles-which-are-hidden-from-our/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [You are the most powerful magnet in the universe! You contain a magnetic power within you that is more powerful than anything in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhonda-byrne/you-are-the-most-powerful-magnet-in-the-universe-you-contain-a/) [Rhonda Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhonda-byrne/) > [“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/) ## More by William James > [Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/effort-is-the-one-strictly-undervalued-and-original-contribution-we/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-are-all-potentially-such-sick-men-the-sanest-and-best-of-us-are-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [In the dim background of our mind we know meanwhile what we ought to be doing: getting up, dressing ourselves, answering the person who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/in-the-dim-background-of-our-mind-we-know-meanwhile-what-we-ought-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“Our minds thus grow in spots; and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we keep unaltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/our-minds-thus-grow-in-spots-and-like-grease-spots-the-spots-spread/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/circumstance-does-not-make-me-it-reveals-me/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > ['Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/facts-are-the-bounds-of-human-knowledge-set-for-it-not-by-it/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Woe to him whose beliefs play fast and loose with the order which realities follow in his experience; they will lead him nowhere or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/woe-to-him-whose-beliefs-play-fast-and-loose-with-the-order-which/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-never-fully-grasp-the-import-of-any-true-statement-until-we-have-a/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is your friends who make your world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-your-friends-who-make-your-world/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/human-beings-can-alter-their-lives-by-altering-their-attitudes-of-mind/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Most people, probably, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/most-people-probably-are-in-doubt-about-certain-matters-ascribed-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“How soon, indeed, are human things forgotten! As we meet here this morning, the Southern sun is shining on their place of burial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/how-soon-indeed-are-human-things-forgotten-as-we-meet-here-this/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/there-can-be-no-difference-anywhere-that-does-not-make-a-difference/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-wrong-always-everywhere-and-for-everyone-to-believe-anything/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) [Explore all 854 William James quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## More Brain quotes > [The brain abhors discrepancies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/the-brain-abhors-discrepancies/) [Vilayanur S. Ramachandran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/) > [In some circles where very heavy people think they have very heavy brains, words like "charming" and "clever" and "pretty" are all put-downs; all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/in-some-circles-where-very-heavy-people-think-they-have-very-heavy/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [down with ought with because with every brain that thinks it thinks nor dares to feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/down-with-ought-with-because-with-every-brain-that-thinks-it-thinks/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To explicate the uses of the Brain seems as difficult a task as to paint the Soul, of which it is commonly said, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-willis/to-explicate-the-uses-of-the-brain-seems-as-difficult-a-task-as-to/) [Thomas Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-willis/) > [I prefer the word 'musician.' I'm a musician and a composer. I have a problem with the word 'artist.' I don't know if it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stromae/i-prefer-the-word-musician-i-m-a-musician-and-a-composer-i-have-a/) [Stromae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stromae/) > [Thinking of sex provides enough mental stimulation to reduce risk of diseases that damage the brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/thinking-of-sex-provides-enough-mental-stimulation-to-reduce-risk-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My writing routine is: get son off to school and sit down at 8 A.M. I read what I wrote the day before, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-chevalier/my-writing-routine-is-get-son-off-to-school-and-sit-down-at-8-a-m-i/) [Tracy Chevalier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-chevalier/) > [The reason I'm drawn to it is - both the off road racing and the motorcycles on the track - it takes a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dax-shepard/the-reason-i-m-drawn-to-it-is-both-the-off-road-racing-and-the/) [Dax Shepard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dax-shepard/) > [Without illusions. I love you because you are fallible and because your poor misguided testosterone-corrupted brain has you doing cartwheels trying not to be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-gerard/without-illusions-i-love-you-because-you-are-fallible-and-because/) [Cindy Gerard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-gerard/) > [being asked to decide between your passion for work and your passion for children was like being asked by your doctor whether you preferred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-bevington/being-asked-to-decide-between-your-passion-for-work-and-your-passion/) [Helen Bevington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-bevington/) > [I was told I had brain damage. I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what's wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-boyle/i-was-told-i-had-brain-damage-i-always-knew-it-was-an-unfair-label/) [Susan Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-boyle/) > [The act of learning to read added an entirely new circuit to our hominid brain's repertoire. The long developmental process of learning to read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maryanne-wolf/the-act-of-learning-to-read-added-an-entirely-new-circuit-to-our/) [Maryanne Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maryanne-wolf/) > [I can't let fear kill my creative brain. Fear is the killer. Your bad choices come from fear. And I'm constantly combating fear. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-can-t-let-fear-kill-my-creative-brain-fear-is-the-killer-your-bad/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [I am the way I am. If you like me because I'm glamorous, so be it. If you like me, because I speak well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malaika-arora-khan/i-am-the-way-i-am-if-you-like-me-because-i-m-glamorous-so-be-it-if/) [Malaika Arora Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malaika-arora-khan/) [Browse all 8,465 Brain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other's being but how or why, no mortal may ever know.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William James" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-mixed-us-of-clay-and-flame-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Brain" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-mixed-us-of-clay-and-flame-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/william-james-228_brain_nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-m_1168612.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things…” — William James", "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": "William James", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Nature in her unfathomable designs had...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-mixed-us-of-clay-and-flame-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/nature-in-her-unfathomable-designs-had-mixed-us-of-clay-and-flame-of/#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 } } ] } ```