John Burroughs was an American author and naturalist who wrote about the natural world and his experiences in nature. He is best known for his essays, which were published in numerous collections throughout his lifetime. He was an advocate for the conservation of nature and a major influence on the modern environmental movement.
What is the most famous quote by John Burroughs ?
The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.
— John Burroughs
What can you learn from John Burroughs (Life Lessons)
- John Burroughs taught that life should be lived with a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world. He encouraged us to take time to observe and appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
- He also believed that we should strive to live in harmony with nature and to be mindful of our impact on the environment.
- Finally, Burroughs taught us to be open to new experiences and to embrace change as a part of life. He encouraged us to be curious and to explore new ideas and perspectives.
The most massive John Burroughs quotes to get the best of your day
Following is a list of the best quotes, including various John Burroughs inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by John Burroughs.
A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
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.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order.
How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color 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.
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.
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
To find the universal elements enough;
to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
The honey-bee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to possess the sweet of every flower that blooms. She is more than provident. Enough will not satisfy her, she must have all she can get by hook or crook.
Look underfoot. You are always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Don't despise your own place and hour. Every place is the center of the world.
Nature quotes by John Burroughs
To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.
I am in love with this world . . . I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my goings and comings.
When nature made the blue-bird she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of the one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast.
The secret of happiness is something to do.
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.
In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.
The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world.
The gift of perfume to a flower is a special grace like genius or like beauty, and never becomes common or cheap.
Quotations by John Burroughs that are observations and essays
I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’.
O bluebird, welcome back again, Thy azure coat and ruddy vest, Are hues that April loveth best.
One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in this life, and one that many persons never learn, is to see the divine, the celestial, the pure, in the common, the near at hand-to see that heaven lies about us here in this world.
Travel and society polish one, but a rolling stone gathers no moss, and a little moss is a good thing on a man.
It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.
A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did.
A man can get discouraged many times but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else and stops trying.
Science has done more for the development of western civilization in one hundred years than Christianity did in eighteen hundred years.
Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all -- that has been my religion.
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.
If you want to see birds, you must have birds in your heart.
Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.
How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.
Serene, I fold my hands and wait, Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate, For lo! my own shall come to me.
Nature is not benevolent; Nature is just, gives pound for pound, measure for measure, makes no exceptions, never tempers her decrees with mercy, or winks at any infringement of her laws.
The International Court of Justice (a.k.a. World Court) is the judicial branch of the United Nations and in the early 1990's a campaign started and it was supported by civil society non-governmental groups around the world.
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.
Nothing relieves and ventilates the mind like a resolution.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, but a state of mind.
To me - old age is always ten years older than I am.
In what bold relief stand out the lives of all walkers of the snow! The snow is a great tell-tale, and blabs as effectually as it obliterates. I go into the woods, and know all that has happened. I cross the fields, and if only a mouse has visited his neighbor, the fact is chronicled.
The spirit of man can endure only so much and when it is broken only a miracle can mend it.
The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy, in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.
We can outrun the wind and the storm, but we cannot outrun the demon of hurry.
What a severe yet master artist old Winter is... No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel.
How readily the bluebirds become our friends and neighbors when we offer them suitable nesting retreats!
Some scenes you juggle two balls, some scenes you juggle three balls, some scenes you can juggle five balls. The key is always to speak in your own voice. Speak the truth. That's Acting 101. Then you start putting layers on top of that.
I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral.
The Universe is a pretty big place... And the one thing I know about nature is it hates to waste anything. So I guess I'd say if it is just us, an awful lot of space is going to waste. The earth is not alone, it is not like a single apple on a tree; there are many apples on the tree, and there are many trees in the orchard.
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.
To the scientist Nature is a storehouse of facts, laws, processes; to the artist she is a storehouse of pictures; to the poet she is a storehouse of images, fancies, a source of inspiration; to the moralist she is a storehouse of precepts and parables; to all she may be a source of knowledge and joy.