Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

Lubbock contrasts two modes of learning: formal, book-based instruction and the direct education offered by the natural world. By calling landscapes “schoolmasters,” he personifies nature as an active teacher that trains attention, patience, and judgment through observation and experience. The line also implies that certain kinds of knowledge—about life, proportion, change, and one’s place in the world—are not fully transmissible through texts. The phrase “some of us” acknowledges individual differences: temperament and receptivity determine whether nature’s lessons are absorbed. Overall, the quotation champions experiential learning and the moral and intellectual value of time spent outdoors.