Source identified
“Secrets lurk on all sides.”
The brief line frames observation as discovery: familiar landscapes still contain details that reward patience, questions, and repeated looking.
Source note: Wake-Robin; the phrase belongs to Burroughs’s description of the naturalist’s expectant attention to the world nearby.
Source identified
“Expectation is ever on tiptoe.”
Curiosity keeps the observer mentally ready because the next small discovery may appear before it can be predicted or scheduled.
Source note: Wake-Robin; Burroughs describes the anticipatory state created by close engagement with birds, seasons, and other natural signs.
Source identified
“There is news in every bush.”
Ordinary natural surroundings become continuously informative when attention is active enough to notice changes, signs, creatures, and seasonal detail.
Source note: Wake-Robin; Burroughs uses the line while describing the alertness and discovery available to an attentive observer outdoors.
Source identified
“How interesting everything is!”
Wonder becomes a method of attention: rocks, streams, plants, and animals all become invitations to learn rather than background scenery.
Source note: My First Summer in the Sierra, near the close of the summer journal.
Source identified
“Sweet is the lore which Nature brings.”
Nature is presented as a source of knowledge that can complement formal study by training attention and receptiveness.
Source note: The Tables Turned; the line follows Wordsworth’s claim that a vernal wood can teach moral insight.
Source identified
“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”
Direct attention to the natural world is offered as a form of learning that complements books and abstract study.
Source note: Poem “The Tables Turned.”