Nature! - we are surrounded and embraced by her; we cannot draw back from her, nor can we penetrate more deeply into her being. She lifts us unasked and unwarned into the rhythms of her dance and whirls us away until we fall exhausted from her arms…we are embedded in her, yet are as strangers to her. She speaks to us unceasingly but does not disclose her secret. We effect her continually yet have no power over her…she is the greatest artist - without any visible effort she brings forth the most consummate creations…in her is endless life, growth and motion, yet she does not advance. She transforms herself endlessly - not for one moment does she remain still. She is constant: her step is measured, her laws unchangeable…"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
quoted by Rudolf Steiner in Festivals and Their Meaning