01UndatedI go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.John Burroughs / quote ↗
02UndatedHow beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.John Burroughs / quote ↗
03UndatedNature teaches more than she preaches. There are no sermons in stones. It is easier to get a spark out of a stone than a moral.John Burroughs / quote ↗
04UndatedWhen a herd of cattle see a strange object, they are not satisfied till each one has sniffed it; and the horse is cured of his fright at the robe, or the meal-bag, or other object, as soon as he can be induced to smell it. There is a great deal of speculation in the eye of an animal, but very little science.John Burroughs / quote ↗
05UndatedThe spirit of man can endure only so much and when it is broken only a miracle can mend it.John Burroughs / quote ↗
06UndatedFor anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.John Burroughs / quote ↗
07UndatedThe common bees will never use their sting upon the queen; if she is to be disposed of, they starve her to death, and the queen herself will sting nothing but royalty, nothing but a rival queen.John Burroughs / quote ↗
08UndatedI have discovered the secret of happiness - it is work, either with the hands or the head. The moment I have something to do, the draughts are open and my chimney draws, and I am happy.John Burroughs / quote ↗
09UndatedTo find the universal elements enough to find the air and the water exhilarating to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.John Burroughs / quote ↗
10UndatedBirds and animals probably think without knowing that they think; that is, they have not self-consciousness. Only man seems to be endowed with this faculty; he alone develops disinterested intelligence, intelligence that is not primarily concerned with his own safety and well-being but that looks abroad upon things.John Burroughs / quote ↗
11UndatedFear, love, and hunger were the agents that developed the wits of the lower animals, as they were, of course, the prime factors in developing the intelligence of man.John Burroughs / quote ↗
12UndatedWhen the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled and is heard but a few yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its bark, that he beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate.John Burroughs / quote ↗
13UndatedThe animal world seizes its food in masses little and big, and often gorges itself with it, but the vegetable, through the agency of the solvent power of water, absorbs its nourishment molecule by molecule.John Burroughs / quote ↗
15UndatedWithout the emotion of the beautiful, the sublime, the mysterious, there is no art, no religion, no literature.John Burroughs / quote ↗
16UndatedI seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral.John Burroughs / quote ↗
17UndatedIn October, a maple tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. Even on cloudy days, its presence helps to dispel the gloom.John Burroughs / quote ↗
18UndatedWomen are about the best lovers of nature, after all; at least of nature in her milder and more familiar forms. The feminine character, the feminine perceptions, intuitions, delicacy, sympathy, quickness, are more responsive to natural forms and influences than is the masculine mind.John Burroughs / quote ↗
19UndatedA sap run is the sweet goodbye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.John Burroughs / quote ↗
20UndatedHe who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.John Burroughs / quote ↗
21UndatedTo treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is another.John Burroughs / quote ↗
22UndatedThe art of the bird is to conceal its nest both as to position and as to material, but now and then it is betrayed into weaving into its structure showy and bizarre bits of this or that, which give its secret away and which seem to violate all the traditions of its kind.John Burroughs / quote ↗
