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John Burroughs

John Burroughs Quotes

Essayist

John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American essayist and naturalist, widely regarded as the father of American nature writing. Born in Roxbury, New York, he worked as a teacher and journalist before dedicating himself to observing and writing about nature. His works, such as Wake-Robin and Winter Sunshine, are celebrated for their vivid descriptions and philosophical depth. A close friend of poet Walt Whitman, Burroughs emphasized the spiritual connection between humans and the natural world. His writings influenced early conservation movements and continue to inspire readers today.

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Famous John Burroughs Quotes

“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.”

Thinking Life Looks Spiritual Feet Divine Source Lessons Repeats Divinity

Book:STUDIES IN NATURE AND LITERATURE

Source: STUDIES IN NATURE AND LITERATURE

“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.”

Source: The Writings of John Burroughs. [

“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.”

Source: The Art of Seeing Things: Essays

“If you think you can do it, you can.”

Ifs Thinking Life Sports Can Do You Can Do It I Can Do It Famous Motivational I Can Do This Powerful Life Changing Powerful Mind

Author:John Burroughs

“To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.”

Life Inspirational School Learning Path Philosophical Yesterday Something New Naturalist

Author:John Burroughs

“Life is a struggle, but not a warfare.”

Life War Life Is Struggle Warfare Life Struggle Life Is A Struggle

Book:The summit of the years

Source: The summit of the years

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

World Life Opportunity Stars Hours Despise Center Of The World

Book:The Writings of John Burroughs: Leaf & tendrill

Source: The Writings of John Burroughs: Leaf & tendrill

“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.”

World Life Persons Hands Lying Religion Heaven Nature Common This World Divine Lessons Pure Hardest This Life Celestial

Book:Complete writings of John Burroughs

Source: Complete writings of John Burroughs

“Love is the measure of life; only so far as we love do we really live.”

Life Love Is Live Life

Book:The Art of Seeing Things: Essays

Source: The Art of Seeing Things: Essays

“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.”

World Life Joy Felt Water Nature This World Wind Mountain Rain Forests Oppression Desert Heat Fury Frost Nature Life Nature And Life

Book:Summit of the years

Source: Summit of the years

“A man’s life may stagnate as literally as water may stagnate, and just as motion and direction are the remedy for one, so purpose and activity are the remedy for the other.”

Men Life May Purpose Water Justice Activity Remedy

Book:Literary Values and Other Papers

Source: Literary Values and Other Papers

“Time does not become sacred to us until we have lived it.”

Life Doe Sacred

Book:The Writings of John Burroughs: Literary values and other papers

Source: The Writings of John Burroughs: Literary values and other papers

“I see on a immense scale, and as clearly as in a demonstration in a laboratory, that good comes out of evil; that the impartiality of the Nature Providence is best; that we are made strong by what we overcome; that man is man because he is as free to do evil as to do good; that life is as free to develop hostile forms as to develop friendly; that power waits upon him who earns it; that disease, wars, the unloosened, devastating elemental forces have each and all played their part in developing and hardening man and giving him the heroic fiber.”

Source: Accepting the universe

About the Author

Born: April 3, 1837
Died: March 29, 1921
Known for: Essayist
Quotes: 181

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Books & Sources

The Art of Seeing Things: EssaysRelated source material

John Burroughs' America: Selections from the Writings of the NaturalistRelated source material

The writings of John BurroughsRelated source material

In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John BurroughsRelated source material

Accepting the universeRelated source material

Winter SunshineRelated source material

Complete writings of John BurroughsRelated source material

Literary Values and Other PapersRelated source material

Locusts and Wild HoneyRelated source material

The Writings of John Burroughs. [Related source material

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