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.

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.

How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

I was born with a chronic anxiety about the weather.

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.

Few persons realize how much of their happiness such as it is is dependent upon their work.

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.

Serene I fold my hands and wait.

How beautifully the leaves grow old. How full of light and colour are their last days.

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.

Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: __o rise above little things_.