"His name is synonymous with conservation, but he killed thousands of birds. He was jailed for bankruptcy, but dined with Dukes, Earls, and Presidents ... Nobody really knew how to make a bird look alive." Audubon painted birds "the way he saw them, which was alive and flying, doing what birds do," despite Audubon's own early lament: "my pencil gave birth to a family of cripples."
- American Masters profile of wildlife artist John James Audubon [1785-1851]
