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Parenting & Family Quote by John James Audubon

"I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children"

About this Quote

Audubon’s sentence reads like a family manifesto disguised as logistics: “go to Europe together” isn’t a travel plan so much as a bid to lock the household into a single, disciplined unit of labor. The phrasing “fully decided” signals authority before persuasion; he’s announcing a verdict, not opening a discussion. Then comes the tell: “to work as if” an “established Partnership for Life.” He’s not describing what they are, but what he needs them to perform as - a stable enterprise, emotionally and economically, with husband, wife, and children functioning like a coordinated crew.

That “as if” carries the subtext. It hints at precariousness: the partnership may not feel established, or at least not sufficiently aligned with his ambitions. Audubon was building a career that depended on relentless production and patronage - fieldwork, drawing, selling, networking - and Europe (especially Britain and France) was where American natural history could be turned into prestige and paying subscribers. In that world, the family wasn’t separate from the work; it was part of the infrastructure. Lucy Audubon’s earning, managing, and steadying role becomes legible between the lines, even as the sentence centers his decision.

The line also captures a 19th-century tension that still feels modern: the romance of a calling versus the administrative reality of making it viable. Audubon’s genius needed a market; his market required a “Partnership for Life” that could survive the grind of turning wonder into product.

Quote Details

TopicHusband & Wife
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Audubon, John James. (2026, January 16). I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-feel-fully-decided-that-we-should-all-go-to-98293/

Chicago Style
Audubon, John James. "I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-feel-fully-decided-that-we-should-all-go-to-98293/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-feel-fully-decided-that-we-should-all-go-to-98293/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 - January 27, 1851) was a Scientist from USA.

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