John Burroughs

John Burroughs

"I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral."
58 Quotes
"I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral."
John Burroughs
"Without the emotion of the beautiful, the sublime, the mysterious, there is no art, no religion, no literature."
John Burroughs
"The Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, but a state of mind."
John Burroughs
"The 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
"When 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
"Fear, 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
"Birds 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
"To 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
"The secret of happiness is something to do."
John Burroughs
"I 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
"The 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
"For 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
"The spirit of man can endure only so much and when it is broken only a miracle can mend it."
John Burroughs
"When 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
"Nature 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
"How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
John Burroughs
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."
John Burroughs
"The Infinite cannot be measured. The plan of Nature is so immense, but she has no plan, no scheme, but to go on and on forever. What is size, what is time, distance, to the Infinite? Nothing. The Infinite knows no time, no space, no great, no small, no beginning, no end."
John Burroughs
"Man takes root at his feet, and at best, he is no more than a potted plant in his house or carriage till he has established communication with the soil by the loving and magnetic touch of his soles to it."
John Burroughs
"England is like the margin of a spring-run: near its source, always green, always cool, always moist, comparatively free from frost in winter and from drought in summer."
John Burroughs
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