John James Audubon

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“To be a good draftsman was to me a blessing.”

“I waged war against my feelings.”

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

“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 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.”

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

“The Carrion Crow and Turkey-Buzzard possess great power of recollection, so as to recognise at a great distance a person who has shot at them, and even the horse on which he rides.”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“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?”