4 quotations linked to Wake-Robin by or associated with John Burroughs, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Birds, seasons, observation, curiosity, attention, natural detail, wonder and the expectant habits of a field observer.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Secrets lurk on all sides.”
The brief line frames observation as discovery: familiar landscapes still contain details that reward patience, questions, and repeated looking.
Wake-Robin; the phrase belongs to Burroughs’s description of the naturalist’s expectant attention to the world nearby.
“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.
Wake-Robin; Burroughs uses the line while describing the alertness and discovery available to an attentive observer outdoors.
“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.
Wake-Robin; Burroughs describes the anticipatory state created by close engagement with birds, seasons, and other natural signs.
“The greatness and the minuteness of nature pass all understanding.”
Burroughs emphasizes that nature can astonish at both immense and tiny scales, leaving observation capable of deepening wonder rather than exhausting it.
Wake-Robin; Burroughs reflects on close observation of natural life and the limits of easy comprehension.
