Terry Gifford, EWDB, page 224
“
So extravagant is Nature with her choicest treasures, spending plant beauty as she spends sunshine, pouring it forth into land and sea, garden and desert. And so the beauty of lilies falls on angels and men, bears and squirrels, wolves and sheep, birds and bees,... .
— John Muir
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "So extravagant is Nature with her choicest treasures, spending plant beauty as she spends sunshine, pouring it forth into land and sea, garden and desert. And so the beauty of lilies falls on angels and men, bears and squirrels, wolves and sheep, birds and bees,... ." in the context of "Terry Gifford, EWDB, page 224" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "John Muir" (Quotes, 1860s, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1869: My First Summer in the Sierra (1911) [Note: the events that take place in this book were experienced in the late spring and summer of 1869. His journal from this time is believed to no longer exist. In late 1880s, Muir recalled his 1869 trip (likely using his 1869 journal) into a notebook called Sierra Journal Summer of 1869. This late 1880s notebook became his 1911 published book, My First Summer in the Sierra - forty years after the events.])
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About John Muir
John Muir (21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.
About John Muir
John Muir (21 April 1838 – 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.
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