Quotes from John James Audubon

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

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.

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

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

To be a good draftsman was to me a blessing.

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

The mercantile business did not suit me.

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.

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

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

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.

To repay evils with kindness is the religion I was taught to practise, and this will forever be my rule.

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.

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

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

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.

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 waged war against my feelings.

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?

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

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.

The gay bunting erects his white crest, and gives utterance to the joy he feels in the presence of his brooding mate; the willow grouse on the rock crows his challenge aloud; each floweret, chilled by the night air, expands its pure petals; the gentle breeze shakes from the blades of grass the heavy dewdrops.

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?