John Burroughs Quotes

John Burroughs was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the U.S. conservation movement. The first of his essay collections was Wake-Robin in 1871.

In the words of his biographer Edward Renehan, Burroughs' special identity was less that of a scientific naturalist than that of "a literary naturalist with a duty to record his own unique perceptions of the natural world." The result was a body of work whose resonance with the tone of its cultural moment explains both its popularity at that time, and its relative obscurity since. Wikipedia  

✵ 3. April 1837 – 29. March 1921
John Burroughs photo
John Burroughs: 41   quotes 1   like

Famous John Burroughs Quotes

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

Variant: You can get discouraged many times, but you are not a failure until you begin to blame somebody else and stop trying.

John Burroughs Quotes about nature

John Burroughs Quotes about science

John Burroughs Quotes

“The deeper our insight into the methods of nature... the more incredible the popular Christianity seems to us.”

Source: The Light of Day (1900), Ch. IV: Natural Versus Supernatural

“The truths of naturalism do not satisfy the moral and religious nature.”

Source: Accepting the Universe (1920), p.301

“…the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, but a state of mind.”

Source: The Light of Day (1900), Ch. III: Science and Theology

“We are here to see and contemplate the great spectacle.”

Source: Accepting the Universe (1920), p.10

Similar authors

Henry David Thoreau photo
Henry David Thoreau 385
1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitio…
Léon Bloy photo
Léon Bloy 22
French writer, poet and essayist
Walt Whitman photo
Walt Whitman 181
American poet, essayist and journalist
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Charles Darwin photo
Charles Darwin 161
British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by…
Robert Louis Stevenson photo
Robert Louis Stevenson 118
Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer
Thomas Carlyle photo
Thomas Carlyle 481
Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian…
Guy De Maupassant photo
Guy De Maupassant 59
French writer
Oliver Wendell Holmes photo
Oliver Wendell Holmes 135
Poet, essayist, physician
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Theodore Roosevelt 445
American politician, 26th president of the United States