"Nature's a tranquilizer as you get older"
About this Quote
A line like "Nature's a tranquilizer as you get older" feels like a showman slipping a small truth between the punchlines. Willard Scott made a career out of genial public comfort - the kind of TV presence that turned everyday life into something safe and shared. So when he reaches for "tranquilizer", he isn't talking about wilderness as some lofty spiritual cathedral. He's talking about relief: a practical antidote to the static that accumulates with age.
The phrasing does a lot of work. "Nature's" is casual ownership, like it's a product you can reach for without a prescription. "Tranquilizer" is the sly twist: not "inspiration" or "beauty", but medication. It suggests that aging isn't just wisdom and perspective; it's also nerves, fatigue, loss, chronic worry - the mental tabs left open. Nature becomes a coping tool, but an acceptable one. Not the stigma of pills or the self-seriousness of "wellness", just the quiet reset of trees, weather, and light.
There's subtext, too, about time. Older people often stop chasing intensity and start valuing steadiness. Nature offers that in a way modern life doesn't: seasons that don't negotiate, tides that don't care about deadlines. Coming from an entertainer, the quote also reads like backstage advice. After years of being "on", the older self longs for a place where performance isn't required. Nature doesn't applaud. That's the point.
The phrasing does a lot of work. "Nature's" is casual ownership, like it's a product you can reach for without a prescription. "Tranquilizer" is the sly twist: not "inspiration" or "beauty", but medication. It suggests that aging isn't just wisdom and perspective; it's also nerves, fatigue, loss, chronic worry - the mental tabs left open. Nature becomes a coping tool, but an acceptable one. Not the stigma of pills or the self-seriousness of "wellness", just the quiet reset of trees, weather, and light.
There's subtext, too, about time. Older people often stop chasing intensity and start valuing steadiness. Nature offers that in a way modern life doesn't: seasons that don't negotiate, tides that don't care about deadlines. Coming from an entertainer, the quote also reads like backstage advice. After years of being "on", the older self longs for a place where performance isn't required. Nature doesn't applaud. That's the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nature |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Willard
Add to List







