Quote

How much there is in books that one does not want to know, that it would be a mere weariness and burden to the spirit to know.

John Burroughs

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

John Burroughs
Age: 83 †
Born: 1837
Born: April 3
Died: 1921
Died: March 29
Essayist
Naturalist
Writer
Delaware County
New York
Spirit
Doe
Book
Much
Weariness
Would
Burden
Mere
Books
Reading

More quotes by John Burroughs

Image
[Theodore Roosevelt] was a naturalist on the broadest grounds, uniting much technical knowledge with knowledge of the daily lives and habits of all forms of wild life. He probably knew tenfold more natural history than all the presidents who had preceded him, and, I think one is safe in saying, more human history also.
John Burroughs
Image
Look underfoot. You are always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Don't despise your own place and hour. Every place is the center of the world.
John Burroughs
Image
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.
John Burroughs
Image
To find the universal elements enough to find the air and the water exhilarating to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
John Burroughs
Image
I go to books and to nature as a bee goes to the flower, for a nectar that I can make into my own honey.
John Burroughs
Image
The five original nuclear weapon states I mentioned - U.S., Britain, France, China, and Russia - under the NPT have committed to the achievement of the elimination of their nuclear arsenals through good faith negotiations of nuclear disarmament - that's Article Six of the treaty.
John Burroughs
Image
If I were to name the three most precious resources of life, I should say books, friends, and nature.
John Burroughs
Image
The Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, but a state of mind.
John Burroughs
Image
The budget for nuclear forces in the United States is on the order of $25 billion or so. That includes warheads, delivery systems, command and control does not include environmental clean-up, which is another maybe $10 billion or so. So that's about 5% of the U.S. military budget.
John Burroughs
Image
Life is a struggle, but not a warfare.
John Burroughs
Image
Unfortunately, nuclear weapons have become identified with state power.
John Burroughs
Image
Joy in the universe, and keen curiosity about it all - that has been my religion.
John Burroughs
Image
It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative.
John Burroughs
Image
I am in love with this world . . . I have climbed its mountains, roamed its forests, sailed its waters, crossed its deserts, felt the sting of its frosts, the oppression of its heats, the drench of its rains, the fury of its winds, and always have beauty and joy waited upon my goings and comings.
John Burroughs
Image
You cannot cause disproportionate damage to the environment you cannot harm neutral states. The court said that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally contrary to the international law of armed conflict.
John Burroughs
Image
I think rain is as necessary to the mind as to vegetation. My very thoughts become thirsty, and crave the moisture.
John Burroughs
Image
Few persons realize how much of their happiness is dependent upon their work, upon the fact that they are busy and not left to feed upon themselves. Blessed is the person who has some congenial work, some occupation in which to place one's heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces that are in him or her.
John Burroughs
Image
One may summon his philosophy when they are beaten in battle, not till then.
John Burroughs
Image
The thing that I focus on because I don't think it gets enough attention is that among the world's major powers, there is still a nuclear balance of terror - I'm talking about between the United States and Russia, the United States and China.
John Burroughs
Image
[T]he cold warms me—after a different fashion from that of the kitchen stove.
John Burroughs