Henry David Thoreau Quotes
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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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Men go to a fire for entertainment. When I see how eagerly men will run to a fire, whether in warm or in cold weather, by day or by night, dragging an engine at their heels, I'm astonished to perceive how good a purpose the level of excitement is made to serve.
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And now, at half-past ten o'clock, I hear the cockerels crow in Hubbard's barns, and morning is already anticipated. It is the feathered, wakeful thought in us that anticipates the following day.
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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
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Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
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Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
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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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As we passed under the last bridge over the canal, just before reaching the Merrimack, the people coming out of church paused to look at us from above, and apparently, so strong is custom, indulged in some heathenish comparisons; but we were the truest observers of this sunny day
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Simplify, simplify.
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The Indian...stands free and unconstrained in Nature, is her inhabitant and not her guest, and wears her easily and gracefully. But the civilized man has the habits of the house. His house is a prison.
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I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject.
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My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read,'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at largeDown in the meadow, where is richer feed,And will not mind to hit their proper targe.
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I will not talk about people a thousand miles off, but come as near home as I can. As the time is short, I will leave out all the flattery, and retain all the criticism. Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives.
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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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What are the earth and all its interests beside the deep surmise which pierces and scatters them?
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And the cost of a thing it will be remembered as the amount of life it requires to be exchanged for it.
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It is in vain to dream of a wildness distant from ourselves.
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I am a parcel of vain strivings tiedBy a chance bond together,Dangling this way and that, their linksWere made so loose and wide,Methinks,For milder weather.
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Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds?
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The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence.
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Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.
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It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
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Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.
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A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears, and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand. It may be Uranus, or it may be in the shutter.