To wade in marshes and sea margins is the destiny of certain bird, and they are so accurately made for this that they are imprisoned in those places. Each animal out of its habitat would starve. To the physician, each man, each woman, is an amplification of one organ. A soldier, a locksmith, a bank-clerk, and a dancer could not exchange functions. And thus we are victims of adaptation.

The Laws of Nature: Excerpts from the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (ed. North Atlantic Books, 2010) - ISBN: 9781556439315