Gunter Grass Quotes

Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.

Science is not everything, but science is very beautiful.

I first became aware of the delights of the natural world when my father, an entomologist, presented me with what looked like a twig. When it got up and walked, my delight was such that I wrote a poem, 'To a Walking Stick.'

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder.

Science is not about control. It is about cultivating a perpetual condition of wonder in the face of something that forever grows one step richer and subtler than our latest theory about it. It is about reverence, not mastery.

One travels so as to learn once more how to marvel at life in the way a child does. And blessed be the poet, the artist who knows how to keep alive his sense of wonder.

Use your imagination, and you'll see that even the most narrow, humdrum lives are infinite in scope if you examine them with enough care.

An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.

As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.

To my mind, most people go through life recoiling from its best parts. They miss the enrichment that just a basic knowledge of the physical world can bring to the most ordinary experiences.

I read a lot of books. I read because it inspires me and shows me paths that I could never imagine. Sometimes those paths are horrible and sad, and sometimes they are hopeful and amazing. Not always are they paths to the future, and sometimes the paths are actually about the past but make sense when applied to the future. Books are amazing.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me - nature, hills, people, and even insects.

The excitement lies in the exploration of the world around us.

The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.

I don't do a lot of research, exactly, but I'm constantly wandering through the world finding things incredible and remembering them.

Children astound me with their inquisitive minds. The world is wide and mysterious to them, and as they piece together the puzzle of life, they ask 'Why?' ceaselessly.

I don't care what town you're born in, what city, what country. If you're a child, you are curious about your environment. You're overturning rocks. You're plucking leaves off of trees and petals off of flowers, looking inside, and you're doing things that create disorder in the lives of the adults around you.

I think the foundation of everything in my life is wonder.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

Some of the natural world is appealing, some of it is terrifying, and some of it grosses us out. Modern people don't want to be dropped naked into a swamp. We want to tour Yosemite with our water bottles and G.P.S. devices. The natural world is a source of happiness and fulfillment, but only when prescribed in the right doses.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

Even the worst book can give us something to think about.

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.