Great Throughts Treasury

"A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children."

"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."

"Almost every day, instead of going to school, I made for the fields, where I spent my day."

"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."

"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."

"As I grew up I was fervently desirous of becoming acquainted with Nature."

"Because my father was often absent on naval duty, my mother suffered me to do much as I pleased."

"But the moment a bird was dead, no matter how beautiful it had been in life, the pleasure of possession became blunted for me."

"During all these years there existed within me a tendency to follow Nature in her walks."

"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."

"But hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns."

"Captain Hall expressed some doubts as to my views respecting the affection and love of pigeons, as if I made it human, and raised the possessors quite above the brutes. I presume the love of the mothers for their young is much the same as the love of woman for her offspring. 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."

"Go where you will, if a shilling can there be procured, you may expect to meet with individuals in search of it."

"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."

"Finally I paid every bill. My plantation in Pennsylvania had been sold and nothing was left to me but my humble talents."

"How strangely Nature has provided them with the means of securing their eggs and young from their arch-enemy Man."

"From the top of a high rock, I obtained a good few of the most extensive and dreary wilderness I ever beheld. It chilled the heart to gaze on these barrens of Labrador. Indeed, I now dread every change of harbor, so horridly rugged and dangerous is the whole coast and country to the eye, and to the experienced man either of the sea or the land."

"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."

"How strangely our Bark is tossed-Poor as Job yesterday-rich as Croesus Tomorrow!-and who could not wish to live to enjoy this Life of pleasurable anxiety? Not I believe me."

"Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment; cares I knew not, and cared naught about them. I purchased excellent and beautiful horses, visited all such neighbors as I found congenial spirits, and was as happy as happy could be."

"How could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books?"

"Hundreds of anecdotes I could relate. It may happen that the pages I am now scribbling over, may hereafter be published."

"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."

"I cannot write at all, but if I could how could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books? I will not write at all."

"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."

"I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine."

"I must put myself in a train of doing... and thereby keep the machine in motion."

"I do anything for money now a days."

"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."

"I have now 42 Dollars, health, and as much anxiety to pursue My Plans of Accomplishing My collection as Ever I had and Hope God Will Grant Me the same Powers to proceed."

"I feel I am strange to all but the birds of America."

"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."

"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."

"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 took down my portfolio, to select a drawing to copy in oil. He had never seen my works before, and appeared astonished as his eyes ranged over the sheets. He expressed the warmest admiration, and said, "How hopeless must be the task of my giving any instruction to one who can draw like this?" I pointed out to him that nature is the great study for the artist, and assured him that the reason why my works pleased him was because they are all exact copies of the works of God, ? who is the great Architect and perfect Artist; and impressed on his mind this fact, that nature indifferently copied is far superior to the best idealities."

"I waged war against my feelings."

"I rise long before day and work till nightfall, when I take a walk and go to bed."

"I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens."

"In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests."

"In America, business is the first object in view at all times, and rightly it should be so."

"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."

"Mathematics was hard, dull work. Geography pleased me more. For dancing I was quite enthusiastic."

"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."

"My drawings at first were made altogether in watercolors, but they wanted softness and a great deal of finish."

"My drawings of Owls and other birds of similar plumage were much improved. I have continued the style ever since."

"My father... sailed as a sea captain to the West Indies, where in 1785 I found light and life in the New World."

"My mother had several beautiful parrots and some monkeys; one of the latter was a full-grown male of a very large species."

"My plan is to publish one Number at my own expense and risk, and travel with it under my arm-and beg my way."

"My wife determined that my genius should prevail, and that my final success as an ornithologist should be triumphant."

"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."