Henry David Thoreau Quotes
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If you are describing any occurrence... make two or more distinct reports at different times... We discriminate at first only a few features, and we need to reconsider our experience from many points of view and in various moods in order to perceive the whole.
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An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
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You can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be.
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The eye may see for the hand, but not for the mind.
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Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
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None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.
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Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelfThan that I may not disappoint myself,That in my action I may soar as highAs I can now discern with this clear eye.
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The commonest and cheapest sounds, as the barking of a dog, produce the same effect on fresh and healthy ears that the rarest music does. It depends on your appetite for sound. Just as a crust is sweeter to a healthy appetite than confectionery to a pampered or diseased one.
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The life that I aspire to liveNo man proposeth me-No trade upon the streetWears its emblazonry.
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Gradually the village murmur subsided, and we seemed to be embarked on the placid current of our dreams, floating from past to future as silently as one awakes to fresh morning or evening thoughts.
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Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
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I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.
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Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.
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Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
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Every poet has trembled on the verge of science.
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Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.
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This world is but canvas to our imaginations.
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For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms, and did my duty faithfully, though I never received one cent for it.
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Where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up. But the truth blows right on over it, nevertheless, and at length blows it down.
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Whate'er we leave to God, God doesAnd blesses us.
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No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day.
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She with one breath attunes the spheres, And also my poor human heart.
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That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess.
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It is so rare to meet with a man out-doors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands.