Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

John Burroughs Writer

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Apr 3, 1837
  • Died: Mar 29, 1921

John Burroughs was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the U.S. conservation movement. The first of his essay collections was Wake-Robin in 1871.

In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose resonance with the tone of its cultural moment explains both its popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since.

Leap, and the net will appear.

The secret of happiness is something to do.

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.

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

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

Travel and society polish one, but a rolling stone gathers no moss, and a little moss is a good thing on a man.

If you think you can do it, you can.

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

To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is another.

A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.

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

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

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

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

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

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