Monday, April 25, 2011

On John Burroughs an American Naturalist and Essayist


Photography by Maxie

 
John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 - March 29, 1921)

The complete writings of John Burroughs totals 23 volumes.  He was an American naturalist and essayist and important in the evolution of our countries conservation movement.  Considered, by some, less of a scientific naturalist and more of a literary naturalist.  Burroughs writings reflected his own unique perceptions of the natural world.

The following are some of the quotes of John Burroughs:


"The Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, but a state of mind."
John Burroughs

"The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.  The great opportunity is where you are."
John Burroughs

"The secret of happiness is something to do."
John Burroughs

"The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention."
John Burroughs

"The spirit of man can endure only so much and when it is broken only a miracle can mend it."
John Burroughs

"There is hardly a man on earth who will take advice unless he is certain that it is positively bad."
John Burroughs

""To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday."
John Burroughs

"A man can get discouraged many times but his is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else and stops trying."
John Burroughs

"Blessed is the man who has some congenial work, some occupation in which he can put his heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces there are in him."
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

"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

"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

"I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral."
John Burroughs

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see."
John Burroughs

"If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go."
John Burroughs

"If you think you can do it, you can."
John Burroughs

"It is always easier to believe than to deny.  Our minds are naturally affirmative."
John Burroughs

"Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all - that has been my religion."
John Burroughs

"Leap, and the net will appear."
John Burroughs

"To me - old age is always ten years older than I am."
John Burroughs

"To treat you facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine you facts is another."
John Burroughs

"A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did."
John Burroughs

"Life is a struggle, but not a warfare."
John Burroughs

"Science has done more for the development of western civilization in one hundred years
 than Christianity did in eighteen hundred years."
John Burroughs






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