Carl Linnaeus

The true scientist is one who is always learning.

The classification of animals is as important as the classification of plants.

The beauty of nature is a reflection of the beauty of God.

The study of nature is a never-ending journey.

The true botanist is one who can identify a plant by its smell.

The natural system is the only true system.

The first step in wisdom is to know the things themselves; this notion consists in having a true idea of the objects; objects are distinguished and known by classifying them methodically and giving them appropriate names. Therefore, classification and name-giving will be the foundation of our science.

A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by writing a good natural history of his country.

The stone grows, the plant grows and lives, the animal grows, lives, and feels.

In natural science, the principles of truth ought to be confirmed by observation.

I saw the infinite, all-knowing and all-powerful God from behind as He went away, and I grew dizzy. I followed His footsteps over nature's fields and saw everywhere an eternal wisdom and power, an inscrutable perfection.

The names of the plants ought to be stable, consequently they must be given to stable genera.

No one has been a great man without divine inspiration.

The plant kingdom is a school for patience; it teaches us to wait with hope.

Minerals grow; Plants grow and live; Animals grow, live, and have feeling.

I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none.

A herbarium is better than any illustration; every botanist should make one.

The flowers' leaves... serve as bridal beds which the Creator has so gloriously arranged, adorned with such noble bed curtains, and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much the greater solemnity.

Man is the ultimate purpose of Creation.

By classification we bring order into nature.