Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I waged war against my feelings.
Earth has few secrets from the birds.
The mercantile business did not suit me.
To be a good draftsman was to me a blessing.
My heart swelled with uncontrollable delight.
Never give up listening to the sounds of birds.
To be a Naturalist is better than to be a King.
I feel I am strange to all but the birds of America.
When the bird and the book disagree, believe the bird.
The longer we were in it, the smaller it seemed to get.
I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine
I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine.
The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear.
. . .nature indifferently copied is far superior to the best idealities.
As I grew up I was fervently desirous of becoming acquainted with Nature.
I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens.
If only the bird with the loveliest song sang, the forest would be a lonely place.
How could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books?
But Hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns.
But hopes are shy birds flying at a great distance, seldom reached by the best of guns.
During all these years there existed within me a tendency to follow Nature in her walks.
Almost every day, instead of going to school, I made for the fields, where I spent my day.
In America, business is the first object in view at all times, and rightly it should be so.
Because my father was often absent on naval duty, my mother suffered me to do much as I pleased
Because my father was often absent on naval duty, my mother suffered me to do much as I pleased.
Mathematics was hard, dull work. Geography pleased me more. For dancing I was quite enthusiastic.
To have been torn from the study would have been as death; my time was entirely occupied with art.
The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living.
To repay evils with kindness is the religion I was taught to practise, and this will forever be my rule.
Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.
My drawings at first were made altogether in watercolors, but they wanted softness and a great deal of finish.
A first walk in any new country is one of the things which makes life on this planet worth being grateful for.
Go where you will, if a shilling can there be procured, you may expect to meet with individuals in search of it.
A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.
My wife determined that my genius should prevail, and that my final success as an ornithologist should be triumphant.
Almost every day, instead of going to school when I ought to have gone, I usually made for the fields, where I spent the day.
But the moment a bird was dead, no matter how beautiful it had been in life, the pleasure of possession became blunted for me.
I can only think of one experience which might exceed in interest a few hours spent under water, and that would be a journey to Mars.
In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests.
I purchased excellent and beautiful horses, visited all such neighbors as I found in congenial spirits, and was as happy as happy could be.
I discover that my friends think only of my apparel, and those upon whom I have conferred acts of kindness prefer to remind me of my errors.
Would it be possible that I should not in any degree succeed? I can scarcely think so. Ah delusive hope, how much further wilt thou lead me?
I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could.
Mathematics was hard, dull work, I thought; geography pleased me more. For my other studies, as well as for dancing, I was quite enthusiastic.
The best recommendation I can have is my own talents, and the fruits of my own labors, and what others will not do for me, I will try and do for myself.
A Mocking Bird regularly resorts to the south angle of a chimney top and salutes us with sweetest notes from the rising of the moon until about midnight.
The fact is I am growing old too fast, alas! I feel it, and yet work I will, and may God grant me life to see the last plate of my mammoth work finished.
I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children.
Butterflies doing strange things in very beautiful ways were in my mind when I sat down, but by the time my pen was uncapped my thoughts had shifted to rocks.
One day I caught four Dolphins, how much I have gazed at these beautiful creatures... as they changed their hue in twenty varieties of richest arrangement of tints.