One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’.

Burroughs frames a practical moral discipline: the deliberate choice not to be governed by petty irritations, minor slights, or trivial setbacks. The “resolution” language suggests a daily, self-imposed rule rather than a spontaneous temperament—an ethic of steadiness that must be “made” and continually “kept.” In Burroughs’s broader outlook as a nature essayist, such counsel aligns with cultivating perspective: attending to what is enduring and meaningful rather than being pulled off course by momentary annoyances. The quote’s force lies in its simplicity—an aspirational standard for character, emotional self-regulation, and proportion in judgment.