The Best John Audubon Quotes

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Mountain Journey
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What Are Your Favorite John Audubon Quotes?

John James Audubon | By John Syme - The White House Historical Association, Public Domain, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9359700">Link</a>
John James Audubon | By John Syme – The White House Historical Association, Public Domain, Link

John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 to January 27, 1851) was a Franco-American naturalist and wildlife artist. After a successful business career, Audubon began to focus on painting. He was passionate about ornithology and devoted his research toward documenting species of American birds.

Audubon’s most famous book is The Birds Of America, which featured illustrations and paintings of numerous species of birds. According to Wikipedia.org, it “is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed.” In his research and in his book, Audubon discovered 25 new species and 12 new subspecies.

If you’re curious about John James Audubon’s Birds Of America paintings, feel free to browse all of his paintings at Audubon.org. Or buy your own copy at Amazon.com:

To read a brief history of John James Audubon, please visit Audubon.org. Today, John James Audubon legacy lives on. His name is used at parks, zoos, institutes, National Wildlife Refuge, conservation centers, mountains, and schools. The National Audubon Society, a non-profit environmental organization, is also named after him.

Below you’ll find a selection of the best John Audubon quotes:

American Flamingo by John Audubon | By Julius Bien - Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2006, 06.339.2_PS1.jpg, Public Domain, Link
American Flamingo by John Audubon | By Julius Bien – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2006, 06.339.2_PS1.jpg, Public Domain, Link
  • Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.
  • Almost every day, instead of going to school when I ought to have gone, I usually made for the fields, where I spent the day.
  • How could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books?
  • I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine
  • To repay evils with kindness is the religion I was taught to practise, and this will forever be my rule.
  • To have been torn from the study would have been as death; my time was entirely occupied with art.
  • The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best.
  • 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?
  • In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests.
  • If only the bird with the loveliest song sang, the forest would be a lonely place.
  • As I grew up I was fervently desirous of becoming acquainted with Nature.
  • When the bird and the book disagree, believe the bird.
  • Never give up listening to the sounds of birds.
  • The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear.
  • 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.
  • My heart swelled with uncontrollable delight.
  • I feel I am strange to all but the birds of America.
  • 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.
  • I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens.

Which of these John Audubon quotes is your favorite? Did we miss any quotes that we should add to the list? Let us know!

Watch The Life Of John James Audubon from the Newfields:

Learn more about John Audubon on Wikipedia.org. Read more about John Audubon in the following books featured on Amazon.com. For more John Audubon quotes, visit BrainyQuote.com and AZQuotes.com, and Wikiquote.org.

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