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Birds
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The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense his life. . . . The beautiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters of all climes, and knowing no bounds -- how many human aspirations are realised in their free, holiday-lives -- and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song!
-John Burroughs
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Earth
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Every walk to the woods is a religious rite, every bath in the stream is a saving ordinance. Communion service is at all hours, and the bread and wine are from the heart and marrow of Mother Earth.
-John Burroughs
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Life
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It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.
-John Burroughs
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The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is 'look under foot.' You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think.
-John Burroughs
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"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
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Nature
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In the fields and woods more than anything else all things come to those who wait, because all things are on the move, and are sure sooner or later to come your way. To absorb a thing is better than to learn it, and we absorb what we enjoy. We learn things at school; we absorb them in the fields and woods. When we look upon Nature with fondness and appreciation, she meets us halfway and takes a deeper hold on us than when studiously conned. Hence I say the way of knowledge of Nature is the way of love and enjoyment, and is more surely found in the open air than in the school room or the laboratory.
-John Burroughs, "Time and Change"
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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
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Religion
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Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all -- that has been my religion.
-John Burroughs
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Success & Failure
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A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
-John Burroughs
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Books by and about John Burroughs
