John Burroughs
John Burroughs
John Burroughswas an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the U.S. conservation movement. The first of his essay collections was Wake-Robin in 1871...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth3 April 1837
CountryUnited States of America
fashion weather kitchen
[T]he cold warms me—after a different fashion from that of the kitchen stove.
happiness thinking states
Happiness comes most to persons who seek it least and think least about it. It is not an object to be sought, it is a state to be induced. It must follow and not lead. It must overtake you, and not you overtake it.
cheer color bird
The bluebird enjoys the preeminence of being the first bit of color that cheers our northern landscape. The other birds that arrive about the same time--the sparrow, the robin, the phoebe-bird--are clad in neutral tints, gray, brown, or russet; but the bluebird brings one of the primary hues and the divinest of them all.
spring night air
Oh, Spring is surely coming, Her couriers fill the air; Each morn are new arrivals, Each night her ways prepare; I scent her fragrant garments, Her foot is on the stair.
life war struggle
Life is a struggle, but not a warfare.
work hands secret
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.
summer winter world
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.
yield facts significant
Close scrutiny of an object in nature will nearly always yield some significant fact...
communication men roots
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.
heart fishing hook
When you bait the hook with your heart, the fish always bite.
mother religious heart
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. There are no heretics in Nature's church; all are believers, all are communicants. The beauty of natural religion is that you have it all the time; you do not have to seek it afar off in myths and legends, in catacombs, in garbled texts, in miracles of dead saints or wine-bibbing friars. It is of today; it is now and here; it is everywhere.
nature educational garden
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 joy curiosity
Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all - that has been my religion.
stars real men
I want nothing less than a faith founded upon a rock, faith in the constitution of things. The various man-made creeds are fictitious, like the constellations Orion, Cassiopeia’s Chair, the Big Dipper; the only thing real in them is the stars, and the only thing real in the creeds is the soul’s aspiration toward the Infinite.