John Burroughs quotes - page 2

In us or through us the Primal Mind will have contemplated and enjoyed its own works and will continue to do so as long as human life endures on this planet. (John Burroughs)
The truths of naturalism do not satisfy the moral and religious nature. View quote
John Burroughs
Science has fairly turned us out of our comfortable little anthropomorphic notion of things into the great out-of-doors of the universe. We must and will get used to the chill, yea, to the cosmic chill, if need be. Our religious instincts will be all the hardier for it. View quote
John Burroughs
Theology passes; religion, as a sentiment or feeling of awe and reverence in the presence of the vastness and mystery of the universe, remains. View quote
John Burroughs
Man's craving for the supernatural is as natural as our discounting of the present moment... The natural becomes trite and commonplace to us and we take refuge in an imaginary world above and beyond it. View quote
John Burroughs
We are here to see and contemplate the great spectacle. View quote
John Burroughs
Science kills credulity and superstition, but to the well-balanced mind it enhances the feeling of wonder, of veneration, and of kinship which we feel in the presence of the miraculous universe. View quote
John Burroughs
From the first the progress of man has been slowly but surely from the artificial to the natural, from the arbitrary and chimerical to the simple and scientific. Getting himself and his affairs more and more into natural currents and following them, this is the way man has progressed. View quote
John Burroughs
The old theology had few if any fast colors, and it has become very faded and worn under the fierce light and intense activity of our day. Let it go; it is outgrown and outworn. What mankind will finally clothe themselves with to protect them from the chill of the great void, or whether or not they will clothe themselves at all, but become toughened and indifferent, is more than I can pretend to say. For my part, the longer I live the less I feel the need of any sort of theological belief, and the more I am content to let unseen powers go on their way with me and mine without question or distrust. They brought me here, and I have found it well to be here; in due time they will take me hence, and I have no doubt that will be well for me too. View quote
John Burroughs
Wisdom cannot come by railroad or automobile or aeroplane, or be hurried up by telegraph or telephone. View quote
John Burroughs
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things'. (John Burroughs)
If I were to name the three most precious resources of life, I should say books, friends, and nature.... View quote
John Burroughs
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. View quote
John Burroughs
It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative; it is not till the second or third thought that doubt begins. Belief is so vital and necessary that one would say the tendency was made strong at the perpetual risk of extra belief and superstition; it were better to believe too much than not enough. Hence mankind have always believed too much, as if to make sure that the anchor hold. To believe just enough, to free his mind from all cant and from all illusion, and see things just as in themselves they are, is the aim of the philosopher or of the true skeptic. View quote
John Burroughs
Under the old dispensation, before the advent of science, when this little world was all, and the sun, moon, and stars were merely fixtures overhead to give light and warmth, the conception of a being adequate to create and control it all was easier. The storms were expressive of his displeasure, the heavens were his throne, and the earth was his footstool. But in the light of modern astronomy one finds himself looking in vain for the God of his fathers, the magnified man who ruled the ancient world. In his place we have an infinite and eternal Power whose expression is the visible universe, and to whom man is no more and no less than any other creature. View quote
John Burroughs
Hence when the man of science says, 'There is no God,' he only gives voice to the feeling of the inadequacy of the old anthropomorphic conception, in the presence of the astounding facts of the universe. View quote
John Burroughs
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. View quote
John Burroughs
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. View quote
John Burroughs
For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice. View quote
John Burroughs
Some men are like nails, very easily drawn; others however are more like rivets never drawn at all. View quote
John Burroughs
One may summon his philosophy when they are beaten in battle, not till then. (John Burroughs)
Blessed is the man who has some congenial work, some occupation in which he can put his heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces there are in him. View quote
John Burroughs
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. View quote
John Burroughs
There is hardly a man on earth who will take advice unless he is certain that it is positively bad. View quote
John Burroughs
To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is another. View quote
John Burroughs