22 Quotes by John Gould

Every sky with its varied tints and every feather of each bird were coloured by hand; and when it is considered that nearly two hundred and eighty thousand illustrations in the present work have been so treated, it will most likely cause some astonishment to those who give the subject a thought.

Freud wrote a book on the essence of humor, but he didn’t know what he was talking about. Max Eastman wrote a book, The Enjoyment of Laughter, that was a much better book, but nobody bothered to read it.

What I love about the currawongs is the way in which they appear from nowhere and, for a brief period, rule the garden’s soundscape, only to disappear as quickly as they arrived.

I don’t read anything anymore. I don’t have the eyesight. I read my own copy, that’s all. I think I’ve read everything that’s worth reading.