Never Say that Nature Deceived Me

"...never say that Nature deceived me, that she is sardonic and cruel. Do not rail at her, as I do not. I am loth to go away -- from you all, from life with its spring. But how should there be spring without death? Indeed, death is a great instrument of life, and if for me it borrowed the guise of resurrection, of the joy of love, that was not a lie, but goodness and mercy....Nature -- I have always loved her, and she -- has been loving to her child."

Thomas Mann, The Black Swan