Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
What was incredible about the Maldives was that the entire island we were on consisted of sand. There didn't seem to be any dirt. You could walk around for hours barefoot with your white trousers skimming the ground, and they'd still be pristine white.
Whatever his inhibitions and tastes, Western man believes in the natural holiness of seminudism and raw vegetable juice, because these have become for him symbols of unadultered nature.
Yon rosebuds in the morning-dew, how pure amang the leaves sae green!
Nothing truly wild is unclean.
The pure air and dazzling snow belong to things beyond the reach of all personal feeling, almost beyond the reach of life.
Spring goeth all in white, / Crowned with milk-white may: / In fleecy flocks of light / O'er heaven the white clouds stray.
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:While the Lily white shall in love delight,Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
When corruption is visited upon the cities of men, the mountains and the deserts await him. The cities are for money but the high-up hills are purely for the soul.
The water was pure and cold and came out of the Apennines tasting like snow melted in the hands of a pretty girl.