Top 63 John James Audubon Quotes
#1. Mathematics was hard, dull work. Geography pleased me more. For dancing I was quite enthusiastic.
John James Audubon
#2. Ah! How often when I have been abroad on the mountains has my heart risen in grateful praise to God that it was not my destiny to waste and pine among those noisome congregations of the city.
John James Audubon
#3. A few days of idleness have completely sickened me, and given me what is called the blue-devils so severely, that I feel that the sooner I go to work and drive them off, the better.
John James Audubon
#4. In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests.
John James Audubon
#5. I ate no butcher's meat, lived chiefly on fruits, vegetables, and fish, and never drank a glass of spirits or wine until my wedding day. To this I attribute my continual good health, endurance, and an iron constitution.
John James Audubon
#6. As I grew up I was fervently desirous of becoming acquainted with Nature.
John James Audubon
#7. On landing at New York I caught the yellow fever. The kind man who commanded the ship that brought me from France took charge of me and placed me under the care of two Quaker ladies. To their skillful and untiring care I may safely say I owe my life.
John James Audubon
#8. The Carrion Crow and Turkey-Buzzard possess great power of recollection, so as to recognise at a great distance a person who has shot at them, and even the horse on which he rides.
John James Audubon
#9. July 2. A beautiful day for Labrador. Went ashore and killed nothing, but was pleased with what I saw. The country is so grandly wild and desolate that I am charmed by its wonderful dreariness.
John James Audubon
#10. Thank God it has rained all day. I say thank God, though rain is no rarity, because it is the duty of every man to be thankful for whatever happens by the will of the Omnipotent Creator; yet it was not so agreeable to any of my party as a fine day would have been.
John James Audubon
#11. 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.
John James Audubon
#12. 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.
John James Audubon
#13. I looked long and carefully at the picture of a stag painted by Landseer - the style was good, and the brush was handled with fine effect; but he fails in copying Nature, without which the best work will be a failure.
John James Audubon
#14. The nature of the place ... whether high or low, moist or dry, whether sloping north or south, or bearing tall trees or low shrubs ... generally gives hint as to its inhabitants.
John James Audubon
#15. I can scarcely manage to scribble a tolerable English letter. I know that I am not a scholar, but meantime I am aware that no man living knows better than I do the habits of our birds.
John James Audubon
#16. My wife determined that my genius should prevail, and that my final success as an ornithologist should be triumphant.
John James Audubon
#18. Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.
John James Audubon
#19. [Drawing should be] a journey of pleasure. Each step must present to the travellers' view objects that are eminently interesting, varied in their appearances, and attracting to such a degree as to excite in each individual thus happily employed the desire of knowing all respecting all he sees.
John James Audubon
#20. If I can procure three hundred good substantial names of persons, or bodies, or institutions, I cannot fail to do well for my family, although I must abandon my life to its success, and undergo many sad perplexities and perhaps never see again my own beloved America.
John James Audubon
#21. A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.
John James Audubon
#22. 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.
John James Audubon
#23. To repay evils with kindness is the religion I was taught to practise, and this will forever be my rule.
John James Audubon
#24. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best.
John James Audubon
#25. 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.
John James Audubon
#26. Poor France, thy fine climate, rich vineyards, and the wishes of the learned avail nothing; thou art a destitute beggar, and not the powerful friend thou wert represented to me.
John James Audubon
#27. But Hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns.
John James Audubon
#28. On the 17th of May, the Delos put out to sea. I was immediately affected with sea-sickness, which, however, lasted but a short time. I remained on deck constantly, forcing myself to exercise.
John James Audubon
#29. To have been torn from the study would have been as death; my time was entirely occupied with art.
John James Audubon
#30. The Fur Company may be called the exterminating medium of these wild and almost uninhabitable regions, which cupidity or the love of money alone would induce man to venture into. Where can I now go and find nature undisturbed?
John James Audubon
#31. The eggers destroy all the eggs that are sat upon, to force the birds to lay fresh eggs, and by robbing them regularly compel them to lay until nature is exhausted, and so but few young ones are raised.
John James Audubon
#32. In America, business is the first object in view at all times, and rightly it should be so.
John James Audubon
#33. Go where you will, if a shilling can there be procured, you may expect to meet with individuals in search of it.
John James Audubon
#34. Because my father was often absent on naval duty, my mother suffered me to do much as I pleased.
John James Audubon
#35. All trembling, I reached the Falls of Niagara, and oh, what a scene! My blood shudders still, although I am not a coward, at the grandeur of the Creator's power; and I gazed motionless on this new display of the irresistible force of one of His elements.
John James Audubon
#36. 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.
John James Audubon
#38. After all, I long to be in America again, nay, if I can go home to return no more to Europe, it seems to me that I shall ever enjoy more peace of mind, and even Physical comfort than I can meet with in any portion of the world beside.
John James Audubon
#39. 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.
John James Audubon
#40. How could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books?
John James Audubon
#41. There is but one kind of love; God is love, and all his creatures derive theirs from his; only it is modified by the different degrees of intelligence in different beings and creatures.
John James Audubon
#42. Great men show politeness in a particular way; a smile suffices to assure you that you are welcome, and keep about their avocations as if you were a member of the family.
John James Audubon
#43. During all these years there existed within me a tendency to follow Nature in her walks.
John James Audubon
#44. 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?
John James Audubon
#45. Surrounded by all the members of my dear family, enjoying the affection of numerous friends, who have never abandoned me, and possessing a sufficient share of all that contributes to make life agreeable, I lift my grateful eyes towards the Supreme Being and feel that I am happy.
John James Audubon
#48. Almost every day, instead of going to school, I made for the fields, where I spent my day.
John James Audubon
#49. I purchased excellent and beautiful horses, visited all such neighbors as I found in congenial spirits, and was as happy as happy could be.
John James Audubon
#51. The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear.
John James Audubon
#52. Patiently and with industry did I apply myself to study, for although I felt the impossibility of giving life to my productions, I did not abandon the idea of representing nature.
John James Audubon
#55. The varying modes of flight exhibited by our diurnal birds of prey have always been to me a subject of great interest, especially as by means of them I have found myself enabled to distinguish one species from another, to the farthest extent of my power of vision.
John James Audubon
#56. My drawings at first were made altogether in watercolors, but they wanted softness and a great deal of finish.
John James Audubon
#57. The Golden Eagle, which has universally been considered as a bird of most extraordinary powers of flight, is in my estimation little more than a sluggard, though its wings are long and ample.
John James Audubon
#59. But the moment a bird was dead, no matter how beautiful it had been in life, the pleasure of possession became blunted for me.
John James Audubon
#60. Travelling through the breeding places of our species is far from being as interesting to me as it is to inspect the breeding places of the feathery tribes of our country.
John James Audubon
#61. 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.
John James Audubon
#62. I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens.
John James Audubon
#63. Nature indifferently copied is far superior to the best idealities.
John James Audubon
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