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Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
Henry David Thoreau -
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.
Henry David Thoreau
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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.
Henry David Thoreau -
I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject.
Henry David Thoreau -
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.
Henry David Thoreau -
It takes two to speak the truth, - one to speak, and another to hear.
Henry David Thoreau -
I hear beyond the range of sound, I see beyond the range of sight,New earths and skies and seas around, And in my day the sun doth pale his light.
Henry David Thoreau -
And the cost of a thing it will be remembered as the amount of life it requires to be exchanged for it.
Henry David Thoreau
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Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
Henry David Thoreau -
The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence.
Henry David Thoreau -
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.
Henry David Thoreau -
I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.
Henry David Thoreau -
If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but to cut them down!
Henry David Thoreau -
Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Atheism may comparatively be popular with God himself.
Henry David Thoreau
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It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are so few moral teachers. The prophets are employed in excusing the ways of men.
Henry David Thoreau -
The title wise is, for the most part, falsely applied. How can one be a wise man, if he does not know any better how to live than other men? - if he is only more cunning and intellectually subtle?
Henry David Thoreau -
It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
Henry David Thoreau -
In the Catholic Church, especially, they go into chancery, make a clean confession, give up all, and think to start again. Thus men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up.
Henry David Thoreau -
Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.
Henry David Thoreau -
Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.
Henry David Thoreau
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In wildness is the preservation of the world.
Henry David Thoreau -
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
Henry David Thoreau -
The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
Henry David Thoreau -
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
Henry David Thoreau