Quotes by John James Audubon

About John James Audubon:

John James Audubon is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon identified 25 new species.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

To be a good draftsman was to me a blessing.

John James Audubon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John James Audubon

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

The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear.

John James Audubon

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

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

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

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

John James Audubon

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

John James Audubon

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 gentl...

John James Audubon

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

John James Audubon

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

John James Audubon

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

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

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

Author Bio

  • NameJohn James Audubon
  • Descriptionornithologist, naturalist, and painter
  • BornApril 26, 1785
  • DiedJanuary 27, 1851
  • CountryUnited States Of America; France
  • ProfessionBotanist; Ornithologist; Painter; Zoologist; Naturalist
  • WorksOsprey And The Otter And The Salmon; The Birds Of America
  • AwardsFellow Of The Royal Society