John Burroughs, (1837-1921), American Naturalist, Author Quotes

Serene I fold my hands and wait.

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.

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

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: "To rise above the little things."

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.

Without death and decay, how could life go on?

For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice.

I go to books and to nature as the bee goes to a flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.

Man is, and always has been, a maker of gods. It has been the most serious and significant occupation of his sojourn in the world.

If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go.